Travis Vail / Roundup
The Pierce College swim team placed third in a Western State Conference Quad Meet held in the Steven E. Schofield Aquatic Center yesterday, with Cuesta College dominating both the men’s and women’s events.
Pierce College, Citrus College, and Bakersfield College spent the afternoon vying for second place as the Cuesta College Cougars took an early lead and went on the win 16 of the 26 events.
“Cuesta is a perennially strong team,” Pierce head coach Fred Shaw said, “it’s always a shootout for everybody else.”
Cuesta’s dominance was most evident during the men’s 1,000 yard freestyle, where freshman Evan Norton beat his nearest competitor, Pierce’s Stephen Leon, by an entire minute.
“Our entire team performed a lot better today than we did last weekend at the Cuesta Invitational,” said Norton.
While the Brahmas were forced into third place by less than three points in both the men’s and women’s competition, coach Fred Shaw remains optimistic about the team’s performance.
“A lot of our athletes swam really well today,” said Shaw, “Sareen Hagopian’s time in the 200 yard individual medley will probably qualify for state championships this year.”
Hagopian placed first in both of her events yesterday, with a time of 02:18.66 in the individual medley and 01:11.59 in the 100 yard breaststroke.
“I’m definitely getting there,” said Hagopian, “The season’s not over; we’re all going to do phenomenally towards the end.”
Citrus College remained fairly quiet throughout the meet until their narrow victory over Cuesta in the men’s 400 yard free relay gave them enough points to edge the Brahmas out of second place in the men’s category.
“We keep doing our best and we’re dropping our times,” said Citrus freshman Andrew Gallegos, who was part of the winning relay team.
Bakersfield College recieved lackluster performances from their male athletes, but the women rallied in the last events to force Pierce into third place by just one point.
Despite the seemingly one-sided performance from Bakersfield, the entire team remained active and supportive of each other throughout the meet.
“We always motivate each other,” said freshman Brigitte Alexander, who won the 100 yard backstroke event for Bakersfield.
Fellow Bakersfield swimmer Katherine James was also very proud of her team’s performance yesterday.
“We’ve been working out really hard this year,” said James, “for where we are in the season, I think our team is doing well.”
The swim team’s next meet will be hosted by Cuesta College at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
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