Rodrigo Carbonel
One of the Pierce College swim teams enjoyed ample success in front of the home crowd Friday afternoon, while the other struggled to be noticed.
The Brahma women dominated Valley College, leaving their adversary in the dust.
The 24-event Western State Competition took place at the Steven E. Schofield Aquatic Center, where the Brahmas’ own Sareen Hagopian won the 1000-yd free, 200-yd individual medley, and 100-yd breaststroke; every event in which she competed.
“It wasn’t my best performance but I feel really good, practice has been kind of tough so I’m a little bit sore,” said Hagopian. “When we rest up, I’m sure I’ll do a lot better.”
The Lady Monarchs were no match for the Brahmas, who beat them by a final score of 168-56.
Pierce’s dominance came when the Brahmas three swimmers finished before the Monarchs trio in the 1000-yd free style competition.
Freshman Samantha Elam continued to impress this young season as she won three events Friday: the 100-yd. free, 200-yd. free, and 500-yd. free.
However, the men at Pierce were not good enough to compete against the Monarchs, succumbing 125-98.
“On the women’s side we pretty much dominated almost every event, it was a lot of fun; the fun part was that we did well in some close races and some people did their best times,” said Brahma swim coach Fred Shaw after the competition. “Valley is a very strong team this year and we snuck in there for some close races, however they did out-point us in the long run on the men.”
Brahma swimmer Daniel Syssoev says his performance was better than previous ones, but that he and the team could do a lot better.
Monarch men’s swimming coach Jim McMillan was content with his team’s performance.
“They’re swimming well, they’re training hard, they’re getting a little bit better, so it was good to compete against Pierce; they’re a strong team,” McMillan said.
Valley College looks poised and ready to compete this season.
“It was good that we swam well, our training is starting to pay off,” McMillan said. “Today was a group effort, Pierce swims well so we needed everybody to swim well.”
The women’s team was really pumped up after the competition, and excited about their next one.
“We’re doing pretty well actually,” said Hagopian. “Everyone has been working hard out there, everyone has been giving their all.”
The next competition for the Pierce swim team will be on Friday, March 25 at Bakersfield College.
Samantha Elam competes in the women’s relay with the butterfly stroke. Pierce College Woman’s team took first in every event against Valley College (Joseph Kukuczka 2011)
Jessica Sanmarti finished first in the women’s relay team as teammates celebrate. Pierce College Woman’s team took first in every event against Valley College (Joseph Kukuczka 2011)