Cerritos College freshman swimmer Katherine Gabayeron (Cerritos HS) made an immediate impact in her first collegiate competition at Palomar College over the weekend at the Waterman Pentathlon and Festival Relays. Gabayeron finished in first in the five-event pentathlon, while she also won two more events at the relays. The Falcons will now take a week off before they compete in the SCC Pentathlon at Pasadena City College on Friday, February 17, while the divers will compete at El Camino College the next day.

 

    In the pentathlon, Gabayeron won a pair of the events, while her overall time of 3:05.76 was less than a second ahead of Laura Bryant of Palomar College. Gabayeron finished first in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 33.46, while her clocking of 1:05.06 was good enough to beat the field in the 100-yard IM. It was a close race in the breaststroke, as Gabayeron's time barely edged Alina Duran of San Diego Mesa College, who touched up in 33.47. In the 50-yard freestyle, Gabayeron finished in third at 33.46, while her time of 29.35 in the 50-yard butterfly was good for fourth place overall.

 

    In the Festival Relays, the Falcons finished in sixth place as a team with 320 points, with Gabayeron winning a pair of races. She easily defeated everyone in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:17.51, which was 34 seconds ahead of her closest competition. She also came within a second of setting a new school record, with Jenel Lopez holding the mark at 11:16.09 in 2009. Gabayeron also won the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:18.61. Freshman Sharon Ku (Cerritos HS) was a ninth place finisher in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:25.23.