Hancock Swimmers Look to Continue Making a Splash at State Meet
After climbing from tenth to a program-best fourth place in the team standings on the final day of the Western State Conference Championships, the Allan Hancock College women's swimming team looks to ride its wave of momentum into the state meet. A trio of freshmen swimmers, Madalena Diaz, Rebecca Gonzalez and Alexandria Kwong, will represent the Bulldogs at the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championships at East Los Angeles College from Thursday, May 5 through Saturday, May 7.
"It is awesome to have three of us qualify for state together," said Kwong, who will compete in the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard butterfly. "All three of us, and the whole team, improved so much this season. We hope to continue improving at state."
Kwong's qualifying times rank in the top nine in the field in all three events. Last week, the Orcutt Academy graduate won three individual Western State Conference titles, breaking the conference record in the 200-backstroke by nearly three seconds in the process.
Diaz will compete in three events: 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley and 1,650-yard freestyle. The Pioneer Valley High School graduate's qualifying time ranks eighth in the 1,650-free and 13th in the 500-free.
"I am so excited," said Diaz. "We were just trying to get through conference, and it was a great surprise to be invited to state. We can't wait to give it our all and represent Hancock."
Gonzalez qualified for the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events. She ranks 16th and 18th in the respective fields.
"Making it to state was always a goal," said Gonzalez. "I was still thrilled to be invited to compete against the best of the best."
All three swimmers have made it their goal to qualify for the finals and to lower their times in each event.
It will be the first time in the program's three-year history multiple swimmers qualified for state in the same season. Leanna Bramble qualified for state in three events in 2014 and 2015. Hancock finished 23rd out of nearly 40 teams each year thanks to BRamble.
"I believe it speaks volumes for the program and the hard work our women are putting in to their workouts," said head coach Mike Ashmore. "Qualifying athletes for state needs to the expectation every year."
The format of the state meet includes preliminary heats each morning and finals in the evening. On Thursday, Diaz will swim the 500-free. Gonzalez will compete in the 100-breast, Kwong in the 100-fly and Diaz in the 400-I.M. on Friday. Saturday's schedule will include the 200-breast and 200-back for Kwong, the 1,650-free for Diaz, and 200-breast for Gonzalez.
"It'll be great to be there together and cheer for one another," said Diaz. "We want Hancock to finish in the top 20 in the team standings and we feel we have a great shot."