The Pierce College swim team kept its good form and came out making a splash at the Western State Conference Swim championship held at Los Angeles Valley College from Thursday, April 17 to Saturday, April 19.
The Brahmas took part in several competitions across three days in its quest to make it to the state championships.
Some of the swimmers, such as distance swimmer Sarah Booth, are graduating or will not be returning after this semester. Booth was looking forward to competing with her teammates one last time.
“This is my last day swimming with the team. What’s most important is that no matter what, everybody has fun,” Booth said.
Most of the Brahmas’ goals were met in the first two days of the competition as several swimmers improved their times.
“We are doing fantastic. It’s been an exciting three days. I’ve seen them better their times,” swim head coach Judi Terhar said.
Many methods were practiced to ensure improvement according to Terhar. One method is to have the team swim a set amount of yards per day.
“We’ve been working hard, and they have done everything I asked them,” Terhar said. “They swim at least 6,000 yards every day.”
Regarding the first half’s expectations, assistant coach Mircea Pitariu said his team had already done enough, but they could have been a bit faster in the water.
“They’ve done everything I’ve asked them to already,” Pitariu said. “The best swimming has been done, I would like to see them swim a little bit faster, but great start.”
In the previous events from Thursday and Friday, the Brahmas held their own in placement.
In the fifth event of the Women’s 100-yard swim, Kelly Stefanec placed eighth in preliminary with a time of 29.93 and a total time of 1:06.93.
For the men’s 100-yard swim, Luis Marquez finished 19th with a time of 33.34 and a total time of 1:22.19.
The Brahmas have had a successful season but look forward to bringing a championship to Pierce once more.
The state championships will be held on May 1 at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park. General Admission will be $10 and student admission will be $7.