With another week of solid training, the Warriors came close to beating their best times during their dual meet on Friday, March 16 against East Los Angeles College and Long Beach City College.

Although the team did not walk away with a win, swimmers walked away with the hopes of having a better chance at the conference championships.

Erica Bender won her 200-yard free relay, as well as her 500-yard free relay while Karina Vint won her 100 IM and her 100 FLY and Paula Mazzarino won her diving.

“We won most of the events at the meet but we just couldn’t catch a lucky break,” Corey Stanbury, coach, said.

Overall, the men’s swim team lost to Long Beach, 174-89, and the women’s swim team lost to Long Beach, 70-57, and East LA, 67-60.

“The girls swam close to their best times, but we were missing a couple girls that could have added to our points,” assistant coach Vincent Fiamengo, said. “But overall, I think we did pretty good.”

Despite the cold weather, Erica Bender won most of her events.

For Bender’s 500-yard free relay, she got 549, her 100-yard free relay with 58, and her 200-yard free relay with 208.

“You have to visualize your race and visualize yourself in perfect formation,” Erica Bender said. “Imagine coming in first.”

During the 400-yard free relay, Bender said that things got hectic when a swimmer from another team was gaining on their swimmer.

“We were able to pull through and win,” Bender said.

In order to prepare for the meet, Bender added that her team had been practicing non-stop.

“You have to make seven out of the nine workouts, so if you miss two, you can’t compete,” Bender said.

Due to missing some of the mandatory practices, six of the men on the swim team were unable to attend the meet.

Stanbury added that they could have essentially helped earn more points for the team if they were able to go.

“We might have lost, but we just have to put it behind us and get prepared for the next swim meet,” Shanese Douglas said.

The Warriors are all working hard for their upcoming meet for the conference championship, which Stanbury is looking forward to.

“Everyone gave it their all and we have to keep pushing ourselves in practice and keep giving it everything we have at every meet,” Douglas said.

The swimming and diving team will be competing on Friday against Mt. San Antonio.