Dylan Boeddeker
Christina Courtney, the only female on the Pierce College swimming team, has qualified for the state championships, which take place tomorrow through Saturday at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.She made it through last week’s conference championships, and now moves on to the 2008 California Community College Athletic Association State Swimming and Diving Championships.Courtney said she is “really, really excited” about qualifying. Going into state, Courtney is seeded seventh in tomorrow’s 500-meter freestyle, ninth in Friday’s 200-meter freestyle and seventh in Saturday’s 1650-meter freestyle.”My goal is to at least get top five in everything,” Courtney said.”She’ll have to really swim as hard as she can just to make the championship final,” said head coach Fred Shaw. “In my 17 years here, this is probably the fastest group we’ve ever had. I noticed all of the qualifying times were much faster this year.”Shaw said that he’s looking forward to seeing Courtney continue to improve.”She’s a very hard worker,” he said.In 2006, Courtney was an All-American in her first season and made it to state on one of Pierce’s relay teams. Last season, Courtney did not swim because she was redshirted, due to credit eligibility issues.Shaw believes that she did great two years ago, but said that Courtney is much better now.”She had been ill and hadn’t been swimming for awhile,” Shaw said. “She took a layoff. So she wasn’t in great shape two years ago. She is now.”
