(Pasadena, CA) By the smallest of margins, the Mt. SAC Men's Swimming & Diving Team finished second at the 19th Annual Pasadena City College Invite Saturday (4/6).

The Mounties, with 738 points, finished just 22 points behind one of the top teams in the state – Diablo Valley College (760). Finishing a distant third was another top team from the North – Sierra College with 507 points.

"The kids swam great, with many great swims throughout the weekend," Mt. SAC Men's Swimming & Diving coach Marc Ruh said. "It is a very long weekend for them. Our top 10-12 kids each swam 10 events in the two days (5 individual events and 5 relays), while all of the other kids had at least five individual events."

"We had many season best times and many great experiences at the meet and are really looking forward to our conference championships, which will be at Mt. SAC, April 18-20."

One of the big highlights for the Mounties was two great swims by sophomore Jason Harary in the 200 Backstroke, with a state-best time of 1:52.39 and a state-best in the 400 Individual Medley with a time of 4:07.28. Harary also finished first in the 200 IM (1:54.23 – 2nd in State) and placed third in the 200 Breast (2:09.24 - 4th in State).

The Mounties took a slim lead after day two of the PCC Invite, as they were just ahead of the top team from the North, Diablo Valley. The Mounties had 446 points, while Diablo had 424. Sierra College, was over a hundred points behind with 313. Host Pasadena was in eighth. 

Another top finisher after the third and final day of competition was sophomore Ryan Lin with a third in the 400 IM (4:17.15 – 5th in State), fourth in the 200 Breast (2:09.66 – 5th in State) and two sixths place finishes in the 200 IM (2:00.51) and the 100 Breast (1:00.01 – 10th in State).

"We had two big swims from both Ryan (Lin) and Jason (Harary)," Ruh added.

Other top finishers were: Ethan Trieu, 3rd – 100 Back (52.69), 6th - 100 Fly (53.38), 8th - 100 Free (47.51) and Jonathan Olvera, 3rd - 1650 Free (16:51.94 – 5th in State), 4th - 200 IM (2:00.02).

The Mounties finished second in the 400 Medley Relay (Trieu, Harary, Lin, Edgar Cueva), 3:33.19 – 2nd in State, 800 Free Relay (Cueva, Zachary Anaya, Olvera, Harary), 7:23.03 – 4th in State and the 400 Free Relay (Cueva, Anaya, Harary, Trieu), 3:12.45 – 4th in State. The team placed third in the 200 Free Relay (Harary, Cueva, Vinny Edwards, Trieu) with a 1:27.91 – 6th in State. In the 200 Medley the team (Trieu, Olvera, Harary, Cueva) placed fourth with a time of 1:37.63.

In the diving events, freshman William Struve finished first in the 1-Meter (205.20 points) and fourth in the 3-Meter (141.40).

Other top finishers:

• 500 Free – Victor Urias, 9th (5:01.60)
• 50 Free – Trieu, 10th (22.12)
• 200 Free – Anaya, 8th (1:48.90)
• 100 Butterfly – Olvera, 9th (53.45)
• 200 Back – William Ku, 6th (2:04.34)
• 100 Breast – Trieu, 11th (1:02.59)
• 3-Meter Diving – Andrew Chavez, 7th (117.60)
• 1-Meter Diving – Chavez, 6th (121.70); Bradley Poma, 8th (72.20)
• 1650 Free – Urias, 4th (17:20.84 – 9th in State); Diego Hitomi, 6th (17:37.63); Niklas Maidens, 8th (18:05.32)
• 200 Breast – Jason Ku, 11th (2:19.29)
• 200 Fly – Jason Willman, 10th (2:07.93)

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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.