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The women’s swim team dominated both opposing teams in the first South Coast Conference double dual of the season against East Los Angeles College and Long Beach City College on Friday. It was the team’s 14th consecutive conference duals win and since 2014 they won 17 of their 18 meets.

Katja Liebing/Courier Deborah McCandliss swims the 200-yard backstroke during a meet against East LA College and Long Beach College at Pasadena City College on Friday, March 4, 2016.
Katja Liebing/Courier
Deborah McCandliss swims the 200-yard backstroke during a meet against East LA College and Long Beach College at Pasadena City College on Friday, March 4, 2016.

The men’s swimming team lost to Long Beach City College 179-64, but still swam strong races.

The women’s team impressively won 10 of their 14 events, beating East LA 147-106 and Long Beach 137-89 with Ariahn Givens and Liza Echeverria winning all of their races. Deborah McCandliss impressed by winning the 1,000 yard freestyle with a huge 35.16 seconds lead.

One of the most exciting victories of the meet was the women’s 500-yard freestyle. Not only did Phoebe Lee, whose specialty is 50 yard freestyle, swim her personal best, she also won the event with an impressive 13.83 second lead.

“It was my first time swimming it,” Lee said. “So I’m really happy with my time.”

The last event of the day, the Men 400 yard freestyle relay, was the most heart stopping event. After falling behind in the beginning, the Lancers closed in on Long Beach with every stroke. Phillip Lee, the last swimmer of the day, almost caught up to Long Beach’s Trevor Lee, but in the end the Lancers lost by less than an arm’s length and only .21 seconds.

“We were catching up we just ran out of pool,” head coach Terry Stoddard said. “A little more pool and we would have caught them.”

Although the men only won two of their events, the 100 and 200-yard backstroke won by David Jimenez, they still performed strong.

“We always have fun competing with Long Beach,” Stoddard said. “They brought out the best in the boys and they really stepped up.”

From the women’s team, Clarque De Young, Deborah McCandliss, Megan Mora, and Nancy Chen all swam their best times and Leo Nuntapramote improved his best time by three seconds in the 200 yard individual medley coming in at 2:12.24.

“We had a lot of people really step up,” Stoddard said. “Our best girls Ariahn and Liza just came through. They were really shining stars. Nancy Chen and Clarque De Young …  scored points that we weren’t counting on.”

Despite being the Lancers’ best performer, Givens always pushes herself for more.

“In my races maybe control my breathing a little bit more and work on my legs, trying to get them a little lower in the water and maybe get a faster turnover,” Givens said.

Although the women’s team seems unstoppable and the men swam better races than last season, Stoddard knows what he has to work on with his team.

“Our relay take offs are our biggest area of improvement,” Stoddard said. “Usually it’s something you work on toward the end of the season. So I mistakenly didn’t work on it enough.”

The next meet will be on March 11 when the Lancers travel to Diablo Valley College.

Click here to view our photo gallery from the event.

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