The Cerritos men’s swim team participated in its first meet of the season traveling to Palomar College to compete in the Waterman Festival and the Palomar Pentathlon.

The team enjoyed success finishing fourth in total team points in the Waterman Festival, then placing first in the pentathlon.

The two events served as the first meets of the year for Cerritos, and a chance for the team to see where it stood.

Head coach Joe Abing said, “It was good, […] it was a really good experience for the team, it was its first meet so it was a good indicator of where everyone is at.”

Second year swimmer Cristian Garcia added, “It felt really good, we started off very strong and very positive.”

Both events took place at Palomar college on Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11 the Waterman Festival on Friday and the Pentathlon on Saturday.

At the Waterman Festival Cerritos competed against Chaffey, Riverside, Palomar, San Diego Mesa, Grossmont, Cypress and Crafton Hills.

All 15 swimmers participated in five individual events and only three of the 15 scored points for the team.

Sophomore Jason Ly came away with 43 of Cerritos 62 total points, placing third in the 50 yard back stroke for 16 points, seventh in the 50 yard free stroke for 12 points, and placed fourth in the 100 yard individual medley for 15 points.

The remaining points came from sophomore Jesus Rojas who scored a total of 12, six in the 50 yard fly and six in the 100 yard individual medley, and freshman Nigel Rueda with seven points in the 50 yard breast stroke.

The next day the Falcons would compete against Palomar, Chaffey and San Diego Mesa, but Mesa did not have any male swimmers at the event.

The men’s swimming team would lead in total points with every swimmer expect one scoring for the team.

Scoring for the Falcons was led by Angel Rojas, who scored 40 points after placing first in the 100 yard fly and the 50 yard free events.

The men had a total of five individual first place finished en route to leading all schools in total points with 710.

Garcia said, “We’ve been working the last three or four weeks and even last semester trying to get our stamina and conditioning up, and it all paid off.”

Garcia is in his second year as a swimmer for Cerritos and is very excited about all the talent this team possess and thinks that the team has the potential to be special.

“There is so much positivity going on, I know we are going to continue winning and continue doing our best, and this team right here is going to be a great team.”