W. Swimming: Team places fourth at conference pentathlon

Women's swimming takes fourth at first invitational of the year
Women's swimming takes fourth at first invitational of the year

In their second meet of the season, the Cerritos College women's swimming team finished in fourth place with 132 team points at the South Coast Conference Pentathlon, which took place at Rio Hondo College. The Falcons, who won the Palomar Pentathlon in their first meet, will now compete in the Golden West Invitational on Friday.

Individually, the team had a pair of ninth place finishes on the day. They picked up the most points in the 200-yard medley relay, as they finished in fourth place. That quartet of Elizabeth Alfaro (Gahr HS), Claudia Martinez (Roosevelt HS), Channon Owens (Kennedy HS) and Scarled Murillo (Lakewood HS) recorded a time of 2:08.95 and was barely edged out of third place by East Los Angeles College with a time of 2:08.41.

Owens finished in ninth place in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:33.31 and finished ahead of three other swimmers in less than one second, while Alfaro's time of 2:25.19 earned her a 13th place finish. In the 100-yard butterfly, Owens once again led the team with a ninth place time of 1:09.37, which was less than a second faster than Alfaro's 10th place time of 1:09.49. Also swimming well was Erica Espinoza, who posted a 14th place time of 1:13.43.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Owens earned 18th place with a clocking of 1:15.51, while Anna Herrera (Rowland HS) was right behind at 1:15.98 to earn 21st place. Freshman Valeria Barboza (Paramount HS) took 11th place in the 100-yard breaststroke when she touched up in 1:22.40, with Martinez coming in 13th place with a time of 1:23.55. Alfaro (1:01.65) and Owens (1:02.92) finished in 11th and 13th places, respectively in the 100-yard freestyle, with Barboza earning 17th place out of 88 swimmers with a time of 1:03.47.

On the second day, the Falcon divers were in action, with freshman Aliah Richardson (Paramount HS) and sophomore Amanda Rabb (Gahr HS) the only two to compete in the 3-meter event. Richardson posted 112.65 points to come in first place. In the 1-meter event, Rabb took first place with 108.30 points, while Richardson compiled 90.45 points for second place.