Annastashia Goolsby
Rivaling head to head in the last lap of a women’s 100 individual medley (IM), Chloe Rodriguez sprints past the competing teams and touches the time pad one second before another swimmer with a time of 1:12.
“I did not expect to win at all. This was my first time swimming this event, except once before in high school. I even told the other girls racing that they would all probably beat me,” Rodriguez said.
Over the weekend invitational at Mt. San Antonio College, swimmers beat their personal time or came in first place of their heats racing against several other colleges.
Swimming in the men’s 200-meter freestyle relay, Vince Fiamengo, Noah Rubke, Kyle Atkin and Nicholas Timko worked together to come in first place in their heat with a time of 1:36.
“I guess we did alright. This is just the beginning and we are still getting in shape. Either way, I am tired,” Timko said rejuvenating himself by eating a protein bar.
Although swimmers place first in their heat, it does not mean much compared to the hundred other heats. Since the team is so limited this semester, we do not have nearly as many cumulative points as the other schools, coach Corey Stanbury said.
As for personal accomplishments, freshmen to the team Amanda Atkin shaved seven seconds off her wonted 500-meter freestyle with a time of 5:52.
“I expected to do better than my usual time because I have been working really hard. Compared to practice, this swim is like nothing to me,” Atkin said.
The swimmers did better than they did at their first pentathlon, which was just to get a glimpse of the opposing teams. They swam faster than last week and if we work harder and swim faster we will do well, Stanbury said.
Swimming the 500-meter freestyle, Nicholas Timko did exceptionally well in his heat with a time of 5:06.
“This was my first distance swim in about a year, so I did not know what to expect. Since this was my first swim, I guess I did pretty good,” Timko said.
The diving scores are added to the swimmers score and returning diver, Jose Bahena scored 269.30 putting him in first place of the diving portion at the Mt. SAC invitational.
“This meet was just to see my competition and I only used the dives I already knew. Right now I am working on new dives that I might use a meet before the finals,” Bahena said.
It was good for us [the team] that there were no other Southern California divers because this means that Jose (Bahena) will probably go to the state championships. He is already doing 25 points better than last year so far, Stanbury said emphasizing on the “so far.”
Representing the other half of the diving team, Jacque Periaswamy is diving for her first time on the team.
“This was my first meet ever. I never dove before in my life until I joined the team. My goal is to always do better than the previous meet,” Periaswamy said.
Divers are judged the second they step onto the diving board. They are given five scores, each from a different judge, based on their hurdle, height, spin form and entry into the water, Bahena said.
In addition to the 13,000 yards of a four-hour swim practice every day, other workouts will help amplify the speed of the swimmers. It takes a lot of exhausting work, but the swimmers can push themselves to excel, Stanbury said.
The first few swim meets went well and now we know what shape everyone is in and the work we have ahead of us, Stanbury said.
