Tennessee edges w. swimming in first meet
Lady Volunteers take meet in last race, outscore No. 7 UCLA
158-140 to win
By Ross Bersot
No one knew what to expect from the first ever dual meet between
the UCLA women’s swim team and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers. The
hazy Saturday morning at the Men’s Gym Pool featured a relatively
untested seventh-ranked Bruin squad against a seasoned Vols team
returning 18 swimmers from last season.
UCLA began the meet with 14 freshmen on the roster and 10
athletes unable to compete (seven swimmers and three divers)
because of injury or illness. The Bruins swam tough, but in the
end, UCLA lost, 158-140.
UCLA got off to a good start, with the 400-yard medley relay.
Two Bruin teams took to the pool and 3:52.09 later the Bruin women
had their first victory of the season.
Jill Jenkins, Lindsay Etter, Annette Salmeen and Megan Oesting
were first while the other Bruin team of Sharon Webster, Glenda
Lueders, Miranda Walz and Kasey Foster captured second.
"I thought we would have a tough time winning that one," UCLA
coach Cyndi Gallagher said of the one-two effort. "That was great,
it showed me what the team is made of."
Salmeen continued to swim well, winning the 200 butterfly in
2:04.56 and placing second in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. Her
times of 1:51.52 and 4:59.63 were second only to Tennessee’s Leslie
Mix, who placed second in the 500 free at last year’s NCAAs.
"The 500 free was a very fun race," Salmeen said. "They were
good times for me and I knew I was up against some tough
competition. I was pretty happy with the way I swam against
(Mix)."
Jenkins’ times of 52.09 and 56.66 earned first place for the
true freshman in both the 100 free and the 100 fly.
Other key performers included Webster and Cindy Bertelink.
Webster finished ahead of the pack at 57.23 in the 100 backstroke,
completing a Bruin sweep of the 100-yard events.
In the 200 back, she was only inches away from her second
victory, when the Vols’ Fabiola Molina touched her out with a time
of 2:04.78 in what was arguably the best finish of the day.
Bertelink was the anchor of the UCLA effort. Swimming in the 1,650
free, the 500 free, the 400 individual medley and a leg on the 400
free relay, she was in the water more than any swimmer on either
team.
Heading into the final event of the day, the home team had 134
points overall, while the Lady Vols had 147. Only by a one-two
sweep of the final event could UCLA dodge their first defeat of the
season. The 400-yard free medley is Tennessee’s best relay event,
which prompted the UCLA coaches to split the best Bruin relay in
order to create two teams with chances to win.
The two home squads were neck-in-neck with the visiting
Volunteers until the end. Mix anchored the Tennessee team that
finished in 3:29.21, just ahead of the Bruins’ final swimmers
Webster (3:29.68) and senior Kirsten Krengel (3:31.17).
"We split them," Gallagher said. "I mean if we had put all of
our fast people on one relay we would’ve won easily."
Despite losing, Gallagher wasn’t negative.
"We swam better than I thought we would be swimming and I think
it was based on the fact that they just got fired up to swim fast,"
Gallagher said. "We had some big holes in some events (because of
injuries). We had to shift everyone around."
And, Gallagher noted, it is still early in the season.
"We’re really not ready to swim this fast yet," she said. "It’s
just so early for us and they did a great job. It wasn’t pretty,
but they did a great job."