New team making splash in its first season

By Bontã Hill
The Guardsman

CHLOE ASHCRAFT / THE GUARDSMAN
CHLOE ASHCRAFT / THE GUARDSMAN

In its inaugural season, the City College women’s swim team is gaining plenty of momentum toward the Coast Conference Championships, as they easily outscored Cabrillo College 124-30 in their dual meet April 9 at the Wellness Center.

“During spring break, we trained really hard in practice,” head coach Phong Pham said. “We trained hard with our eyes on the conference championships.”

Rams swimmers Alyssa Stember and Roselin Sretpisalsilp easily won their respective races, with Stember claiming first place in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, and Sretpisalsilp winning the 100-yard and 500-yard freestyle.

“The 50 freestyle is my favorite event because I’ve been improving the most in that event,”  Stember said. “I’ve never been good at freestyle races until now, so this is really exciting for me, especially since I haven’t swam competitively in three years.”

Sretpisalsilp agreed that she has also been improving throughout the season.
“I’ve been lucky enough to do better in every meet, and I’ve been working hard to get my times down,” she said. “Today was really impressive because I didn’t really race in the events I usually do.”

Pham likes the way his team has improved during its first season competing. He expects his team to be highly competitive at the Coast Conference Championships set to take place April 22-24 at West Valley College. His goal is for the team to finish in the top three.

“We have improved tremendously over the course of the season, and we don’t have a lot of swimmers with competitive swimming experience,” Pham said. “It’s been a good learning experience as we get ready for the conference championships.”