The Pasadena City College men's swim team tried its best to "represent" at the 22nd Pasadena Invitational on Friday-Saturday and the Lancers obliged with a fifth place finish out of 11 teams at the event held at East Los Angeles College. PCC has not had access to the school's Aquatic Center due to interior pool damage since the start of last season.
Sophomore Sam Regan put together his finest overall performance as a Lancer by winning both the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle events while also grabbing third in the 200 butterfly and fourth in the 200 freestyle.
PCC nearly took fourth, finishing just nine points behind fellow South Coast Conference foe El Camino. Diablo Valley won the team title. Team Scoring: 1. DVC 1,033 points, 2. Santa Monica 496, 3. Canyons 440, 4. El Camino 339, 5. PASADENA 330, 6. Cypress 256, 7. LA Pierce 195, 8. Ventura 152, 9. Crafton Hills 84, 10. Fullerton 72, 11. San Diego Mesa 71.
Regan captured the 500 free in a stirring finish to hold off Diablo Valley's Ethan Braga by .48 of a second in 5:04.35. Regan's win was convincing in the mile swim at 17:39.93, the 17th best time in the state this year. His 1,650 time is third in the SCC while his 500 mark is fifth in conference.
"Sam stepped up for us here and going up against some great swimmers across the state," said PCC head coach Terry Stoddard. "He should be primed to get even better for the SCC championships."
Maxwell Ribaya scored second in the 100 butterfly in 53.38. His fastest time of 53.27 in dual meet competition is 18th in the state. Ribaya also was 4th in the 100 freestyle (49.96) and ninth in the 50 freestyle (23.43).
Javier Becerra scored eighth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:39.2 and 11th in the 100 breaststroke (1:11). Hazem Ahmed scored fifth in the 1,650 free (21:14.74) and 10th in the 200 butterfly. Collin Chong placed sixth in the 1,650 free (21:36.41) and 12th in the 400 individual medley. Joseph Ng finished 16th in the 100 freestyle (52.19).
The Lancers return to ELAC for the South Coast Conference Championships on April 20-22.
