Pasadena City College Women’s Swim Best-Ever 4th at 16th Pasadena Invitational

The 16th Pasadena Invitational continued the meet’s traditon of bringing out the best in swimmers across the state as evidenced by the 27 meet records broken in the past two years of the event, including nine at this year’s meet. The PCC women’s team didn’t set a record but it did perform its highest finish ever in its host event by taking fourth place out of 22 teams.

The Lancers had finished fifth in each of the last four years but totaled 302 points to edge out South Coast Conference dual champion Mt. San Antonio (299) for the fourth spot this year. The PCC invite has generally been a sneak preview to the CCCAA State Championships which again take place in May at East Los Angeles College.

Orange Coast won the team title for the seventh time in the last eight years of the event while Golden West captured its second consecutive PI crown.

Sophomore Liza Echeverria became the first Lancer since 2013 to win an event at the host invitational by taking first place in the 400-yard individual medley with a season-best 4:52.22. Echeverria’s performance overall throughout the meet was outstanding since the meet was bombarded by frequent rain storms. Despite the conditions, she placed second in the 200 breaststroke (2:36.99), third in the 200 butterfly (2:20.62), fourth in the 200 IM (2:18.33), and seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.35).

Letterman Ariahn Givens also had a strong meet in placing second in the 100 freestyle (54.71), third in the 50 freestyle (25.06) and fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:01.23).

PCC MEN PLACE 7TH AT PASADENA INVITE

The Lancers men’s team scored seventh out of 20 teams at their host invite. David Jimenez placed fifth in the 200 backstroke (2:03.97) and was 10th in the 100 backstroke (55.91). Phillip Lee took fifth in the 200 breaststroke (2:23.96) while Leo Nuntapramote was the only other individual top 10 finisher in any event, ninth in that same event (2:28.88).

Under the direction of head coach Terry Stoddard, the Lancers teams prepare for the South Coast Conference Championships on April 21-23 at Cerritos College.

Meet Records broken at the 16th Pasadena Invitational
1. Men’s 200 freestyle relay–Diablo Valley, 1:23.72
2. Men’s 500 freestyle–Zhen Teo, Santa Monica, 4:33.82
3. Men’s 200 individual medley (IM)–Jonathan Panchak, Orange Coast, 1:52.34
4. Men’s 200 medley relay–Golden West, 1:33.57
5. Men’s 100 butterfly–Nathan Torres, Golden West, 50.08
6. Men’s 200 freestyle–Teo, SMC, 1:39.05
7. Men’s 100 breaststroke–Panchak, OCC, 56.53
8. Men’s 100 backstroke–Brandon James, Diablo Valley, 49.64 (broke own mark ’15)
9. Men’s 200 breaststroke–Panchak, OCC, 2:03.48

Record Tied
Women’s 200 medley relay–Orange Coast, 1:49.37 (tied ’13 record of DVC)

Note–All were PCC Aquatic Center pool records except M-100 butterfly.