The City College Swim Team Dives into the Finish Line in the San Francisco Invitational

 

By Brett Abel
babel2@mail.ccsf.edu

 

Diving headfirst into 2025, the Rams’ swimming team set a foundation for season-long team connections. In only the second meet of the year, one swimmer qualified in two post-season events. 

The Rams hosted five other colleges’ women’s squads and several men’s teams at the City College natatorium on Feb. 7 and 8 for the San Francisco Invitational.

Coach Phong Pham said the meet, the team’s second since hosting four schools to open the season on Jan. 31, was a chance for his swimmers to set times and expectations for the upcoming Coast Conference schedule. The schedule has seven more meets before the conference championships in April.

“I feel good. The swimmers competed very well,” Pham said after the two-day meet. “We improved time and technique from last weekend’s meet. I think we have good potential if we stay healthy.”

There were 40 events held across the Friday and Saturday meet, alternating between women’s and men’s competitions. The Rams took first in nine, including two team relays. 

 

Sophomore Sophia Tran won five individual events, including two 50-yard races on the first day of the competition. She also beat post-season qualifying times in her 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events, with times of 1:10.81 and 2:36.15, respectively.

“The main goal wasn’t necessarily to win, but to set our best times,” Tran said. She said Pham’s coaching helped her, especially in the 200, where pace is key in the eight-lap race.

After the meet, Tran and teammate Serawit Ezra spoke to The Guardsman together. Tran said her teammates cheering for her at the end of the pool helps. 

“I look up and see your (Ezra’s) face,” Pham said. “Sometimes it helps me. Yell, and we go. With two laps to go, it motivates me. It’s motivation to keep going, keep pushing.”

And while she qualified in two events, the most exciting finish came in her 200-yard individual medley heat. 

 

From lane five, Tran was just behind De Anza swimmer Joyce A. Lin in lane four after the start. Lin had led during the two 50-yard legs of the race – the butterfly and backstroke. 

A half-body length lead after 50 yards stretched to full after 75. But Tran brought it back to half a length by the 125-yard mark during the breaststroke leg. And by the anchor leg, the freestyle, Tran caught Lin for a sprint to the finish. Tran took the lead at the final turn and beat Lin with a time of 2:21.34 to 2:22.53. 

Tran said the two had raced before and that as long as she could keep in the same area as Lin in the early stages of the race, she’d be able to beat her to the finish.

“I could catch her with breaststroke and free,” Tran said. “She hopefully will be out of breath, and I take over. My strength is to stay underwater.”

The two-day meet started each day with team relays, events 1 and 21, the 200-yard and 400-yard medley relays, respectively. 

The other Ram swimmers to win individual events were Veronique Borges in the 200-yard butterfly and Samantha Ng, who beat Ezra for a one-two finish in the 200-yard backstroke.

Ezra and Tran swam the first two lengths of the relays, while freshman Narimane Hennouni anchored both. Sophomore Veronique Borges replaced freshman Samantha Ng on Saturday’s longer race. 

 

The Ram’s relay team with Ng in Event 1 beat out the West Valley College squad by less than half of a second: 2:02.61 to 2:03.03.

After the meet, standing beside each other at the pool’s edge, Ezra and Tran, who swam the back and breast strokes, respectively, discussed the challenges and opportunities of the relays. Tran said the relays are “really fun,” and Ezra said the first relay is “sometimes hard.”

Hennouni said the second day started really well. The swimmer, whom teammates call “Nari,” swims the final legs of the freestyle, and she said it can be a difficult spot in the relay.

“To keep the lead, it can put more pressure on you,” Hennouni said. “With relay, you can be last at the beginning and first at the end. Some teams are strongest at the beginning, some are the opposite.”

“Nari” said she likes the team-building aspect of the relays. Like when she and her team were counting laps in their final event on Day 1 – the 1650-yard freestyle. Sophomore Lan Pham was swimming the 25-yard-long laps. Sixty-six times, down and back.

“In the 1600 for Lan, we were standing there the whole 20 minutes,” Hennouni said.
Pham finished the race in third place with a time of  28 minutes and 30 seconds, eight and a half minutes behind the winner, Anna Kuskova from De Anza College. 

“Swimming is an individual sport,” Hennouni said, “but team spirit is a necessity.”