Christine Alton
This season has been one of the best for the women on the swim team, breaking records placing eighth in the state and first in two events.
The team of six women shined Friday and Saturday in Pasadena, where 33 schools competed in the California State Championship.
Swimmer Alexandra Rogers was on top for the 50 and 100 backstroke breaking Pierce College and pool records. Since the beginning of the semester, her time has decreased by five seconds with a final 58 second 100 backstroke.
“I have been watching her swim and I knew she would do well,” said Shaw. “She has a beautiful backstroke and I am really happy with how hard she worked.”
Jessica Chen was a close second in the 100 free style, scraping away .26 more seconds off her previous record breaking swim at the Western State Conference Championships. She also place fourth in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 free.
“She lost to the best swimmer in the State,” said Shaw. “I am very proud of her.”
All four relay teams placed in the top ten and broke more Pierce records.
At state, 400 medley team shaved 2 more seconds off their time, originally breaking the record set in 1988 for by 15 seconds at the WSC competition.
“It is really exciting to coach a team that you know is going to be competitive,” said Coach Fred Shaw. “When I realized who was going to be on the team, I knew we were going to break records.”
At the WSC finals the swimmers left the competition in second, just behind power-house school, Ventura College.
Rogers was a double winner, in the 50 and 100 backstroke while Chen was a triple winner, with a blue ribbon in the 50, 100 and 700 free. She broke the record set in 1988 for the freestyle sprint by .8 seconds.
“Some of the records have been on the books for 20 or 30 years,” said Shaw. “It shows that we are really improving and that the great swimmers are still coming to Pierce.”
Chen was surprised at how well she did this season.
“I honestly didn’t expect to [break records],” said Chen, who has been swimming since she was 7. “It was pretty random and hopefully I will break it again.”
This is the best of Shaw’s 14-season career.
“I swam with Fred before,” said Rogers. “He is a great coach, Pierce has a great pool and the other girls are really cool.”
The team is smaller than average with 8 woman swimmers and 3 divers, and only 5 men swimmers. Schools like Ventura have more than 30 swimmers.
Rogers has a lot of faith in her teammates, even if it is a smaller team than the other schools.
“They may be bigger, but when it comes to speed, we are better,” she said.
In her second semester at Pierce, Chen’s expectations were surpassed after joining the team. She thinks that having fewer swimmers is beneficial.
“The smallness of the team encourages us to do better,” said Chen. “It gives us a chance to bond.”
The strategy going into the final laps of the season changed as it progressed. The team trained all season and then rested to compete to their fullest potential at State.
“Three or four of the girls had a lot of experience, but some hadn’t been swimming,” said Shaw. “I brought them along slowly, getting them in as good of shape as possible throughout the season, and then letting them rest.”
Overall, this semester has been one of the greatest Pierce’s swimmers have ever seen.
“We ranked higher in state than any other year I have been here,” said Shaw. “We made more points, and were conference champs. This season was phenomenal.”