The Cerritos College women's swimming team had 18 entries in the Palomar Invitational on Friday in their first competition of the season. Leading the way was sophomore Amanda Loya (St. Joseph HS), who came in fifth place overall with her combined times of the five events. She was just three seconds off the overall winner with a cumulative clocking of 3:12.81, with 80 swimmers competing in all five events.

Loya took fourth overall in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 29.24, while freshman Devon Phommachanh tied for 10th place in a time of 30.13. A trio of Falcons turned in times close to each other in the 50-yard backstroke, with freshman Elizabeth Alfaro (Gahr HS) taking 17th place out of 87 swimmers with a time of 33.00. Right beind were Loya (33.07) and sophomore Angela Covarrubias (Paramount HS), who placed 20th in 33.20.

In her best finish of the day, Loya came in second place in the 50-yard breaststroke, as she was clocked in 34.44, which was one second behind the first place time of 33.33. Alfaro was the first Cerritos swimmer to touch up in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 27.22, with Loya taking 18th place in 27.86. The 100-yard IM saw Loya turn in a time of 1:08.20, good for sixth place, while Alfaro was 13th overall in 1:11.52.

The team will swim in the Waterman Relays on Saturday at Palomar College.