For Cerritos College freshman swimmer Amanda Loya (St. Joseph HS), the CCCAA State Championships at East Los Angeles College served as a final chance this season to improve on a school record she broke two weeks earlier. Loya, who qualified for three events, accomplished just that, as she improved on her school record time in the 100-yard breaststroke. She was only able to posted a time of 1:09.09 in the prelims, which just kept her out of the championship race. But in the consolation race, Loya recorded a time of 1:07.40, which eclipsed her previous record time of 1:07.55. That time earned her a ninth place finish, and would have put her in seventh place in the championship race.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Loya came in 17th place and just missed out on competing in the consolation race when she finished in 1:02.29. On Friday, Loya came in eighth place in the 200-yard IM.

The Falcons other swimmer to advance to the state championships was sophomore Carla Harvey (Potomac Falls, VA HS) in the 100-yard backstroke. Competing in the event for the second year in a row, Harvey took 10th place in the preliminary race with a time of 1:01.87. Although she was able to better her time (1:01.45) in the consolation race, Harvey finished in 12th place overall. Add that to her 11th place finish in the 50-yard backstroke on Friday.

As a team, Cerritos finished with 31 points, which put them in 22nd place overall.

Photos by Daryl Peterson