Although a second place finish in the South Coast Conference Championship wasn’t what the Cerritos College women’s swim team had set their hopes on, still the achievements accomplished during the season will definitely make it one to remember.

The Falcons actually outscored the first place finisher Mt. San Antonio College in the swimming events during the grand finale, but due the Falcons absence of divers, the Mounties were able to snag 46 points in the diving events to end up in first with a total of 729 points to the Falcons 700 points.

On the other hand, the successful side of the Falcons can be seen scattered all throughout the season, ranging from broken school records to many first place finishes.

“I thought we had a successful season,” head coach Sergio Macias said. “We had great leadership from our sophomores and a lot of their hard work really paid off.”

The relay teams of the Falcons set five new school records in every relay, which consist of the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.72), 400-yard freestyle (3:40.52), 800-yard freestyle (8:10.72), 200-yard medley (1:52.82), and the 400-yard medley (4:07.85).

Sophomore Jenel Lopez also rewrote the record books herself by breaking two other school records, which were the 100-yard freestyle (53.34), and the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.24).

Lopez, who was also part of three of the four record breaking relay teams, was also named the conference’s Swimmer of the Year for the second year in a row.

“I’m surprised that I did as good as i did,” Lopez said. “I had a lot of issues in the beginning, but I got a lot of help from coach Sergio and my mom.”

As a team, the Falcons captured its second straight undefeated South Coast Conference season in school history with a record of 7-0.

But the same could not be said in the overall South Coast Conference Championship as the Mounties pulled off a first place finish to drown the hopes of the Falcons back to back titles.

The Falcons left no doubt of any of their victories over the South Coast Conference cast. Dominating and defeating opponents such as Rio Hondo 115 to11, and also El Camino 109 to 18.

South Coast Conference champions Mt. San Antonio College also fell victim to the dominance of the Falcons losing 74 to 57 during the regular season.

“We kicked butt during the conference,” Gina Kim said. “We worked really hard for this, even with the small amount of girls we had”

All five record breaking relay teams along with five individual swimmers competed in the State Championship this past weekend, where they placed 11th overall with 130 points.

Lopez had one of the top finishes for the Falcons during the state meet, as she placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.24).