Everyone stood to their feet and cheered for Shon Page, Kyle Atkins, Mike Gavola, and Javier Molina as they swam their best to win the men’s 200-meter medley relay.

That race put the team ahead in the home dual meet vs. Cerritos vs. Rio Hondo.

“It was exciting, the whole team came and cheered for them,” backstroke swimmer Erica Shaw said.

Swim coach Corey Stanbury explained how the Cerritos College swim team thought they won the race and were surprised to see that the Warriors swam a second faster, which ended being the case (ECC 1:49.92 and CCC 1:50.12).

“I was there cheering for Shon, yelling ‘Come on Shon survive’,” swimmer Tyler McGowan jokingly said.

That event win put the Warriors ahead of the rest, but in the end Cerritos took first place.

The same came for the following home dual meet vs. Mt. SAC vs. L.A. Trade Tech. The swim team won the meets against L.A. Trade Tech and Rio Hondo, but lost to Mt. SAC and Cerritos.

This weekend the swim and dive team participate in the Pasadena Invitational, the last meet before South Coast conference championships.

But winning meets throughout the season is the not the team’s focus.

“Conference championship is the only important meet to win; no other meets matter, because only conference can take us to state,” men swim captain Shon Page said.

Swimming is not like other sports where the season games qualify the team to regional championships; instead, in swimming, conference championships is the only qualifying meet to take a swimmer to state championships.

“We support each other as a team, but swimming is a heavily individual sport,” Shon Page said.

Only the state’s top 16 men and women swimmers in each event compete in the state championships.

“Andy Harmatz, Erica Shaw, Danny Bender, Candace Smith, and Shon Page have a chance of making it to state finals,” Stanbury said.

Jessica Somohano, Stacie Leavitt, Katelynn Sloss, and Mike Gavola have also placed at the top of individual events in the two home dual meets.

With the team anticipating the arrival of new skin swimsuits used in the Olympics, they are confident to do well in the South Coast conference, which is in three weeks at Chaffey College.

“Last year our team placed third. Other colleges have a lot of really good individual swimmers, but our team is more dynamic,” Page said.

In the last conference, all of the Warrior swimmers swam their lifetime bests.

“Most colleges are surprised at our times during conferences,” Page said.

The swim team has stopped shaving months before the conference, so by the time they shave for conference their skin sheds water a lot better. .

“The new swimsuits have been designed to shed water a lot better than actual skin,” Stanbury said.