Sleekly swimming through the lane lines, the UCLA swimmers can
breathe easily in the face of competition. But for this weekend’s
two meets against No. 16 Arizona State (3-1) and No. 9 Arizona
(1-0), the Bruins are holding their breath.
It has been two weeks since their last competition against San
Diego, and the swimmers have been anticipating the meets on Friday
and Saturday at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.
“Arizona State has beaten us the past two years.
We’re ready to change that,” senior Sarah Clark
said.
The competition against the Sun Devils and the Wildcats gives
UCLA the chance to improve their current ranking of 12th in the
nation.Â
In preparing for the back-to-back races, UCLA (3-0, 1-0 Pac-10)
has been holding race rehearsals and intensifying
training. Their attitude has remained positive and
intense.
“I think we’re mostly focusing on swimming against Arizona
State,” Clark said. “Both (head coach) Cyndi
Gallagher and assistant Greg Meehan have told us to take it one
meet at a time.”
The timing of the meet adds further significance for the season
as a whole. After this weekend’s competitions and
Thanksgiving weekend, the swim team will then be preparing for the
three-day Auburn Invitational in Alabama.
“The team has been training extremely hard, and I’m glad
that the team has been responding to the full weeks of
training,” Gallagher said. “These are elite athletes,
and when game time comes, these swimmers will rise to take the
challenge.”
“These are going to be great competitions,” she
continued. “I have a high respect for both Arizona teams;
they work hard, they’re tough and they have a good
makeup. But we’re going to go in thinking we can
win.”
As the team camaraderie seems to have grown stronger in the past
few weeks, the swimmers all have hopes of taking home wins this
weekend.Â
The expected tough match-up for the Bruins has led to strategic
placements of swimmers in specific events to gain the most winning
finishes possible.
“We’re going to do very well. We’ve worked so
hard for the past two weeks for the competitions,” junior
Taylor Spivey said. “I think everyone’s looking forward to
just being there and swimming.”