Huskies split in double dual swim meet

MONTEREY PARK, CA — The Huskies swim & dive team edged Rio Hondo College 137–130 in a and lost 191–80 to Mt. San Antonio College in a combined South Coast Conference double dual meet the Swim Stadium.

East Los Angeles College Rio Hondo were neck-and-neck going into the final four events. First up was the long distance 500-yard freestyle with two Huskies and three Roadrunners competing.

ELAC sophomores Yvonne Young (Mark Keppel HS) and Brandy Macias (Bell Gardens HS) took second and third place ahead of the three Rio Hondo women to put the Huskies in the driver’s seat with three events left.

Both Young and Macias swam to their best-ever times in the event.

Rio Hondo followed with more points than ELAC in the 100-yard butterfly. Two events remained and a close win for one team.

In the penultimate event, the 200-yard individual medley, ELAC freshman “Snow” Yixue Wang’s (Shangdong Sports School, China) placed first and secured ELAC’s dual meet win against Rio Hondo.

Snow Wang hit the wall 0.38 of a second faster than second place finisher Kaitlyn Dickinson of Mt. SAC. Snow Wang also won first place in the 100 backstroke and placed third in the 100 free.

ELAC sophomore Alexandra Reyes (Warren High School) won her first-ever 1-meter diving event defeating two Mt. SAC women who were both seeded higher.

Reyes scored a personal record of 109.35 points, which is 27 points more than her previous best.

Young won the 200 back event. She tapped the wall just ahead of two Mt. SAC Mounties, which included favorite Breana Delgadillo.

ELAC freshman “Kiki” Jingrui Wang (Shangdong Sports School) took second place in the 1000-yard free, third in the 50-yard free and fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Macias added another third place finish in the 200 free with a personal best time.

Freshman Alejandra Mendoza (South Gate HS) also took third place in two events, the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. Both were personal records for Mendoza for the second straight week.

Freshman Biby Hernandez (Lincoln HS) swam a personal record in the 100 back (7th place) and took 8th place in two events, the 200 back and the 200 IM.

Sophomore Julia Soto (Garfield HS) placed 6th in the 100 butterfly and 7th in the 1000 free.

Freshman Lesley Perez (Schurr HS) took eighth place in the 200 free, ninth in the 200 breast and Freshman Katherine Bascus-Romero (Downtown Magnet HS) had two personal best times in the 100 back (9th place) and the 100 free (8th place).

The Huskies compete in a South Coast Conference double dual meet on Friday March 25 at 12:30 p.m. against host Los Angeles Trade Tech College and El Camino College.

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia