ELAC Swim and Dive Hits Hard Waves in First Dual Meet
WALNUT, CA — The East Los Angeles College women’s swim and dive team was upset by Cerritos College 141 to 104 in a double dual meet at Mt. San Antonio College today.
ELAC previously outscored Cerritos in the season opening meet, the SCC Pentathlon, but competed today without one of its top swimmers, Elizabeth Melendrez (Mark Keppel High School) who is out with an injury. The Huskies also lost to Mt. SAC at the Marie T. Mills Aquatics Facility in South Coast Conference play.
The Huskies sport a freshman laden team with just one sophomore.
Caitlin Woo (Mark Keppel HS) won her initial 1,000-yard freestyle of the season and achieved a top SoCal time. Woo won the event in 12.13.64 minutes over the heavily favored Alexis Aguirre of Mt. SAC. Vicky Zia-Lopez (Mark Keppel HS) won first place, unopposed, in the 1-meter diving event.
In just its third meet, the Huskies continue to improve and racked up personal records (PRs).
Event 1: 200 Medley Relay: The ELAC quad placed third—Woo in the backstroke, Zia-Lopez in the breaststroke, Lizbeth Perez (Orthopedic Hospital Medical Magnet HS) in the butterfly and sophomore Crystal Rubalcava (Schurr HS) in the final freestyle leg behind. Perez swam a PR in the backstroke leg held previously by Zia-Lopez.
Event 3: 1,000 Free: Woo, who established herself as a strong long-distance swimmer, had two other upsets in her first-place win against two athletes from Cerritos and another from Mt. SAC.
Event 5: 200 Free: Kellie Ton (Mark Keppel HS) placed sixth and Perez seventh It was their initial 200-yard free. Both upset favored Alexis Sierra of Mt. SAC who took eighth.
Event 7: 100 Back: Ton placed eighth, Daniela Pastor (South Gate HS) placed ninth and Michelea Esparza (Los Angeles HS) placed 10th. Esparza had a PR.
Event 9: 100 Breaststroke: Zia-Lopez placed third, Rubalcava placed fifth with a PR and Alejandra Gazpar (Maywood Academy HS) placed eighth also with a PR.
Event 13: 50 Free: Esparza placed eighth in her initial 50-yard free.
Event 17: 100 Free: Gazpar placed seventh and Esparza placed eighth with a PR.
Event 19: 200 Back: Woo placed third, Perez eighth, Ton 11th and Pastor 12th.
Event 21: 200 Breast: Both Huskies swam their initial 200-yard breast. Zia-Lopez who placed third and Gazpar who placed seventh. Zia-Lopez’s third win was extremely close over Samantha Dominguez of Mt. SAC, 3:18.10 to 3:18.78.
Event 23: 500 Free: Rubalcava took fifth place with a PR, 21 seconds faster than Megan Hernandez of Cerritos who settled for sixth.
Event 27: 200 IM: Woo placed an impressive second place over a Cerritos swimmer by 22 seconds. Perez took fifth over Mt. SAC’s Jasmine Ramirez almost six seconds faster.
Event 29: 400 Free Relay: ELAC placed third edging the “B” team from Mt. SAC. The Husky quad was comprised of Perez, Zia-Lopez, Rubalcava and Woo.
Next Up
The Huskies compete in the Chaffey Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Riverside City College Aquatics Center.
Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index or on Facebook at ELAC Huskies Athletics (@elachuskiesathletics).
story submitted by Tadzio Garcia