Moments before the final team relays on Saturday’s meet
against Arizona, the Wildcats suddenly ceased activity to hear the
score at that point: “Arizona 144, UCLA 120.”
The Bruins’ opponent then heaved a sigh of relief at its
margin of victory.
While the Bruins did end the day in defeat, their obvious
capabilities made Arizona uneasy.
“We had some good races and an overall good experience
this weekend,” junior Crissy Tinney said. “Swimming
against Pac-10 teams made us step up, and we saw a lot of positive
things contributed.”
Having competed in back-to-back meets over the weekend, the
swimming and diving teams took home a victory on Friday against the
Arizona State Sun Devils 151-87, winning nine of the first 10
events.
The divers set the standard early on Friday morning, sweeping
the competition in the one-meter dive. Senior Heidi Prosser took
first, while freshmen Paige Thompson and senior Regan Gosnell
followed with second-and third-place finishes, respectively.
The second day also gave the divers the opportunity to shine.
The swimmers, expecting a more difficult competition on Saturday,
requested that the divers score 27 points in their dives.
They ended up scoring 28 points, to the cheers of the swim
team.
“Our team is pretty deep, and against Arizona we got
first, third and fourth in both events. These were our first Pac-10
competitions, and we did a really good job,” Gosnell
said.
Throughout the swimming events, the wild cheers of the loyal
crowd, who chose the meet over the USC-UCLA football game, kept the
spirits of the Bruin team high as it continued to compete against
Arizona.
And, in the final results of the 200-free relay, the team of
junior Sara Platzer, freshman Kim Vandenburg, junior Malin
Svahnstrom and senior Erica Shugart won the event, making the final
score 160-140.
“This weekend was great. Friday against Arizona State was
a great performance, and we did a good job against Arizona,”
head coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “We had a lot of close races
today.”
In gearing up for the Husky Invitational in Washington in two
weeks, Gallagher expressed confidence in her team.
“We’re looking forward to the Husky Invitational,
which is going on during early December. Hopefully have a few
NCAA-qualifying times,” Gallagher said.
“This weekend was an experience for us,” Tinney
said. “We’ve been recently swimming a lot of season
bests, and in the Husky Invitational we’re just going to rest
and compete at the level we’re on right now.”