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The Pasadena women’s swim team looked nothing short of dominant on Friday during their dual meet with Cerritos and El Camino, coming within a literal blink of an eye away—.11 seconds—from sweeping all 14 events as they topped Cerritos 136-133 and beat El Camino 170-90.

The Lancers set the tone right out of the gates by winning the 200-yard medley relay. Victoria Leflang followed with a seemingly effortless victory in the women’s 1,000-yard freestyle.

The most impressive victory of the afternoon was the women’s 100 yard butterfly, where the Lancers swept the top three spots, all crucial victories because only the top five spots are scored.

Courtney Fukushima is having a solid year for the Lancers and led the charge.

“Every time she swims she gets faster” coach Terry Stoddard said. “Having a swimmer that can swim in any race and place is huge.”

Stoddard compared Fukushima’s versatility to a baseball player who can play any position on the field, and she may be even more valuable than that because of the scoring system.

“It’s pretty fun,” Fukushima said with a big smile. “I enjoy swimming a variety of races.”

Shannon Cheung also produced another standout performance.

“Shannon showed her range,” Stoddard said after Cheung won the 50-yard freestyle. “We always put her up against the other team’s best, so she knows she needs to bring it every time.”

The two adjectives that immediately jumped out of Coach Stoddard when asked about the women’s showing were “supportive and together.”

“Getting one, two, three in a race is huge,” Stoddard said. “And it just exemplifies our togetherness.”

Sophomore breast stroke specialist Arolyn Basham was pleased with her team mates’ drive as well.

“The whole team is doing much better at racing,” she said. “We’re finishing races stronger and doing the things we need to do, like punching the wall, for example”

It’s difficult to make such an exhausting sport appear so easy, but that was exactly what the Pasadena women did on Friday afternoon.

While the men did not have quite as impressive of a showing, losing to Cerritos 210-56, and El Camino by a score of 200-63, freshman Mohammad Esmaeilian showed why he is one of the premier swimmers in the SCC. Esmaeilian won both the 100 and 200-yard freestyle swims.

The Lancers get back in the water at the Aquatic Center on April 4th and 5th when they host the Pasadena Invitational.

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