Women’s swim hosts Brown under gray skies
Brown’s Bruins venture into stormy Westwood for a dual meet with
UCLA
By Ross Bersot
UCLA women’s swim will test the water of Men’s Gym Pool for the
final time this season in a non-conference meeting with Brown. The
2 p.m. matchup is the best opportunity UCLA has to better its 4-3
dual meet record before completing its tough Pacific-10 schedule
with away meets at Stanford and the USC.
The Bruins of the Ivy League are a vastly different animal than
that of the Pac-10. Brown does not give scholarships for swimming
and will have a difficult time competing against a UCLA team that
is driving to finish the season ranked among the top seven teams at
the NCAA Championships for the seventh time in seven years under
head coach Cyndi Gallagher.
"(Brown) is up-and-coming in the Ivy League," Gallagher said.
"They’re doing a lot better because of (head coach) Matt Kredish.
He has done a great job recruiting."
Coming off difficult winter training and a 156-106 loss to
Michigan in the middle of a storm on Saturday, UCLA will have to
fight fatigue and inclement weather for the third meet in a
row.
"This is a bad time to have a meet," Gallagher said. "We’re
treating it very seriously but times might not be that fast due to
the weather and injuries. People are swimming their second best
events. Jill Jenkins may swim the 200 back and Glenda Lueders the
200 fly."
Jenkins has reached NCAA consideration qualification in the
50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly with times of 23.85 and
56.66. The sprinter has not entered the 200 backstroke since the
SMU Classic in November. Lueders is normally a breaststroker and
has not competed in the 200 butterfly all season.
"I want to see what people do because I have to pick who is
going to travel (to Stanford and California)," Gallagher said.
Although UCLA will not be at full strength for the meet, it
should have no trouble in proving who is the best Bruin against a
less talented Brown squad.