Second Loss in a Row but Not All Hope is Lost

Annastashia Goolsby

Shaving six seconds off her 1000-yard freestyle, Amanda Atkins finished in first place with a time of 11:47 at the Friday meet against Los Angeles Trade Tech and Chaffey at EC.

“My swim felt really strong so I am happy with it. I am training really hard right now, so hopefully I can make it to finals,” Atkins said.

Making this twice in a row, the team has lost again due to many swimmers being benched for missing too many practices, coach Corey Stanbury said.

The men’s team lost to Chaffey 73-54 but beat L.A. Trade Tech 115-12. The women’s team lost to L.A. Trade Tech 56-47 and to Chaffey 106-19.

“Despite the loss, we still got in a lot of good swims and it is obvious the swimmers are still tired,” Stanbury said.

Swimming the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:28 and winning the 200-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 2:16, Vincent Fiamengo is close to surpassing his best times.

“I was happy with the breaststroke and it’s pretty close to my lifetime best,” Fiamengo said. “The 200 IM was a let down though because I am still 12 seconds from my best. I have been training to swim the IM event at the championships though.”

The job for the swimmers now is to not miss practice and to be focused like a laser on the conferences in three weeks and hopefully we will have a few swimmers eligible to compete in finals, Stanbury said.

Creeping up in the last 25 yards of the 200-yard freestyle, Nicholas Timko won his heat with a time of 1:49.

“I feel that my time was slow in comparison to the best time I’ve ever gotten, but I am happy I won the event. I definitely think I can do better next week and I believe I have a chance to swim in finals,” Timko said.

Representing the diving team, Jose Bahena won and received his best ever score on the 3-meter diving board with a point total of 253.27.

“No other diver has come within 20 points of Bahena’s score,” Stanbury said. “He should do well at conferences because it is at our pool and it is the diving board he practices on everyday.”

Smacking the water on her third and fourth dive, Jacque Periaswamy excelled in a more complex technique on her fifth dive and won for her first time on the 3-meter diving board with a score of 105.

Jacque (Periaswamy) just took the diving class last semester and she is doing exceptionally well for it being her first semester on the team. She will try for the one and 3-meter board at conferences, Stanbury said.

“The swimmers will be swimming at practices twice a day during spring break. If they choose to not show up, then they are off the team,” Stanbury said.