Huskies win first-ever swim medal at state
By Tadzio Garcia
The women's swim team finished in 17th place at the 2014 California Community College Athletic Association Swim and Dive State Championships held May 1-3 in the ELAC Swim Stadium.
Diablo Valley College of Pleasant Hill won the women's team title with 414 points, surpassing Orange Coast College (400 points) of Costa Mesa on the final day to win. It was Diablo Valley's first title in seven years and ninth in its history.
South Coast Conference rival Pasadena City College finished in sixth place, its best showing ever in a state finals swim meet.
Golden West College of Huntington Beach won the men's state title with 478 points. SCC rival Mt. San Antonio College took second place with 344 points. ELAC does not sport a men's team.
Alice Ying Fei Zhang and Wenning Shen are the first ELAC women's swimmers to advance to a state finals meet in 25 years. Zhang won All-American status in three races.
She won the silver medal taking second place in the 100-yard individual medley. She was No. 19-seeded entering the event's prelims. Melissa Bergesen of Golden West won the 100 IM.
"Bergesen was the only swimmer to break the minute mark (in 58.90 seconds) after trailing Ashley Boyle of Santa Rosa (third, 1:00.86). The host school East Los Angeles picked up its first-ever medal as Zhang beat Boyle to the wall at 1:00.56," Robert Lewis, CCCAA SID, said.
Zhang placed fourth in the 50-yard breaststroke. Allison Gargalikis of Diablo Valley won the event and was the women's co-player or the meet after breaking three state meet records and one pool record, during the three-day event. Kelsey Leonard of Diablo Valley was the other co-player of the meet.
Zhang won her third medal and All-American status in the 100 breaststroke placing sixth. She was No. 16-seeded in the event.
"She is the highest ranking (swimmer) ELAC has ever had, achieving what no one else has at this college," Erik Matheson, ELAC swim and dive team head coach, said.
Zhang said she went in each prelims race with a strategy of qualifying to the final of each event rather than burning herself out with her fastest times.
Despite her goal, Zhang finished with personal records in every prelims and finals race. She dropped 2.15 seconds in winning a silver medal.
Teammate Wenning Shen advanced to the consolation finals in the 50 and 100 backstrokes. "She missed qualifying in the 100 (IM) consolation finals by just .02 of a second, but she finished with a personal record," ELAC second-year swim coach Susan Lai said.
Entering the 50 back as the No. 23 seed, Shen placed 10th, swimming personal records in the prelims and consolation finals. Shen placed 14th in the 100 back.
Zhang scored 45 points for ELAC. Shen add 14 points to vault ELAC past De Anza, San Joaquin Delta and Grossmont colleges in the final standings.
"Wenning (Shen) dropped three seconds in the 100 (individual medley), a half second in the 50 breaststroke and a full second in the 100 breaststroke an she accomplished this without being in the pool for almost a month," Matheson said.
The Swim Stadium drew about 3,000 including athletes and fans over the three days.
http://elaccampusnews.com/2014/05/08/huskies-win-first-ever-swim-medal-and-take-17th-place/