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PCC Lancers welcome to Long Beach Swimmings Students’s team while they compete for the best performance of lenght, style, and space, at the PCC Aquatic Center on Friday, March 20, 2015. (Victoria de la Torre/Courier)
PCC Lancers welcome to Long Beach Swimmings Students’s team while they compete for the best performance of lenght, style, and space, at the PCC Aquatic Center on Friday, March 20, 2015. (Victoria de la Torre/Courier)

Women’s swimming eviscerated the competition at the PCC Aquatic Center last Friday by defeating both LA Trade Tech College and Long Beach City College, extending their undefeated 6-0 record in the South Coast Conference.

The Lancers trounced LBCC 173-80 and blew Trade Tech out of the water 206-45.

The undefeated team’s winning streak has created buzz about the Lancers winning the South Coast Conference title, something that hasn’t happened since 2003.

To put that into perspective, 2003 is the same year “Finding Nemo” was the movie to see.

“Hopefully we do get there,” said Jovana Meza about the now very real chance of being the best out of the 10 schools that compete in the SCC.

Meza was happy to share that she beat one of her times by five seconds.

“That’s a lot,” she said.

“She has improved so much,” said head coach Terry Stoddard. “She made six practices and did a great job.”

The Lancers won 12 of the 14 events, thanks in part to sophomore Connie Peng placing first in the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.64), the 200 butterfly (2:28.54), and the 100 butterfly (1:02.66).

“I’m doing my best,” said Peng, who is always humble about how much she carries the team.

It seems unlikely the team will lose momentum because they’re improving regardless of already beating out the competition.

Other standouts include Courtney Fukushima, Ariahn Givens, and Liza Echeverria.

“Once you get 2-0 then you think maybe we can do it again and then all of a sudden you’re 4-0 and to beat Long Beach is an accomplishment and now they’re 6-0,” said Stoddard.

Freshman Megan Mora fed off the winning energy and beat her best time in the 50 Freestyle.

“Coach called me a barrier breaker because I beat my best time,” said Mora. “My time was originally 30.7 and todays was 29.8. So even if it’s a little bit, it’s still a big difference.”

This rang true when Fukushima lost the 500 Freestyle by less than a tenth of a second to Ashley Diaz of Long Beach, 5:42.17 to 5:42.38.

“I strive every day to make hard work normal,” said Stoddard.

Things went OK for men’s swimming with a win over Trade Tech and a loss to Long Beach.

Team captain Mohammad Esmaeilian stole the spotlight on the men’s side, winning the three individual events he competed in by securing first in the 50-yard freestyle (22.08), the 100 freestyle (48.99) and the 500 freestyle (5:08.01).

“So on my 50 Free I wasn’t too bad,” said Esmaeilian. “Our relay got first place. The guys did a very good job.”

Samuel Sanchez improved on the 1,000 freestyle (40 laps) by 15 seconds, (10:12.36) for the gold and won the 200 backstroke as well.

The Lady Lancers will compete at Rio Hondo College this Friday in hopes of winning their last double dual of the season and bringing their record to 8-0.

“We won in 2003. That’s my only title since I’ve been here,” said Stoddard. “These sophomores have a contagious attitude. They really enjoy training hard and being their best…this is going really well.”

It looks like 2015 just may be the year for PCC Swimming to bring home a title.

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