Bruins defeat Brown in final non-league meet
Ivy League Bruins no match for UCLA; Jenkins, Etter and Larsen
all win events
By Ross Bersot
Apparently a non-conference meet vs. Brown University is not the
inspiration that UCLA women’s swimming needs to perform in top
form, even if the Wednesday meet was the last at home for the
season. The dull, gray clouds hanging over Men’s Gym Pool seemed to
promote lethargy throughout the Bruin team, which floated through
the first half of the meet.
"(The meet) is in the middle of the week and people have
classes," UCLA head coach Cyndi Gallagher said. "We weren’t sure if
the meet was going to fly or not; we weren’t sure if (Brown was)
going to make it."
Weather conditions almost prevented Brown from making it to
Westwood in time for the competition, but as the meet began the
home team appeared to be absent. Continuing a recent trend, most of
the team remained in the locker room to avoid the weather until the
first break.
"Because it was raining against Michigan, everyone was in the
team room so I think they felt like they could stay in the team
room but it wasn’t raining," Gallagher said. "They just didn’t snap
out of it and they made some mental errors like being in the wrong
lanes and false starting. It was all too lax by the coaching staff
and by the swimmers."
In the 200-yard freestyle, Kirstin Krengel and Kasey Foster
switched lanes and Genii Masluk and Glenda Lueders did the same in
the 200 butterfly. Although the swimmers could keep their times,
the points could not be added to the team score. A rare false start
by Barbara Hajduczek disqualified her from the 50 free.
On a day when the rain-soaked scoreboard and the lane one timer
malfunctioned it appeared as if UCLA would too. However, Gallagher
talked to the team during the break and the Bruins stormed through
the rest of the meet, winning by a final score of 166-87.
Leading the Bruin charge were Lindsay Etter, Jill Jenkins and
Annette Salmeen with two victories each.
Etter raced to a 1:04.60 in the 100 breaststroke and a 2:18.79
in the 200 breaststroke, races that she was narrowly lost against
Michigan in the previous meet.
"At Michigan (the races) were so close that sometimes I get
nervous," Etter said. "The 200 today felt good for the first time,
200s never feel good. That’s how I like to swim it."
With a 23.93, Jenkins won the 50 free and defeated the next
closest competitor in the 200 backstroke by two seconds with a
2:03.59.
"The 200 was pretty tough; I was feeling pretty tight at the
end," Jenkins said." It’s not my race."
Sophomore Shawna Larsen was the first to the wall with a 53.48
finish in the 100 free, leading a one-two-three UCLA sweep of the
event that revived the home team and began the Bruin blowout of
Brown.