With the South Coast Conference meet coming down to the final event, the Cerritos College women's swimming team suffered a 139-136 setback against Mt. San Antonio on Friday. The Falcons, who led by six points heading into the 400-yard freestyle relay, saw the Mounties earn 13 points with a first and third place finish, with a second place earning the team four points. At the same time, Cerritos was defeating Rio Hondo College, 227-12 in the three-team meet. The Falcons will now travel to East Los Angeles College on Friday for a 12:30 p.m. conference meet against the Huskies and Chaffey College.

The duo of sophomore Katherine Gabayeron (Cerritos HS) and freshman Raquel Gabayeron (Cerritos HS) each won three events, while sophomore Yuridia Vela (Schurr HS) was a two-event winner on the day. The Falcons also took second in both of the relay races, with the Mounties earning an important 11 points in each of the races. In the first event of the day, they edged the Cerritos quartet of freshman Carla Harvey (Potomac Falls, VA HS), Katherine Gabayeron, freshman Milena Hernandez (Cerritos HS) and freshman Angela Covarrubias (Paramount HS) in the 200-yard medley relay by a little over a minute.

Katherine Gabayeron picked up wins in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:18.85 (eight seconds ahead of Hayley Maddox of Mt. SAC), the 500-yard freestyle in 5:26.15, where she beat Maddoz by seven seconds. She added a convincing win in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 33.29. As for Raquel Gabayeron, her wins came in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:01.53, which edged Maddox by four seconds, while her time of 27.73 beat the field in the 50-yard butterfly. She also added a win in the 100-yard IM with a time of 1:04.77.

Vela and sophomore Janine Loera (Paramount HS) finished in first and second place in the 50-yard backstroke, with Vela posting a 31.34 to win the event. She and freshman Baije Logova (Cabrillo HS) were the only two entries in the 1-meter diving event, and Vela generated 153.40 points to win the event. Covarrubias registered a time of 26.74 to win the 50-yard freestyle and also came in third place in the 100-yard freestyle.

Photo by Daryl Peterson