Last weekend, the No. 11 UCLA swimming and diving team got an
excellent preview of how its season will hopefully conclude.
The squad captured the team title at the Texas A&M Fall
Invitational.
The mid-season tournament served not only as a chance to swim
and dive against teams from across the country, but it familiarized
the Bruins with the Student Recreational Center Natatorium in
College Station, the same venue that will host the 2004 NCAA
championships.
“One of the reasons we went to Texas was to get
comfortable with the area and the pool there,” said UCLA
coach Cyndi Gallagher. “We also got to swim against a lot of
schools that we usually don’t face, so it was a great
opportunity.”
“I am really glad that I got to see the pool and the
area,” sophomore Kim Vandenberg said. “It is a
really nice pool, so I am looking forward to swimming there at
NCAAs.”
If the Bruins swim as fast in College Station come March as they
did Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then the NCAA tournament could
turn out very well for UCLA. The Bruins dominated the Fall
Invitational, taking a staggering lead on the first day of
competition and holding on to defeat No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 8
Southern Methodist and No. 20 Florida State. UCLA finished the
tournament far out in front of second place Texas A&M, scoring
2,077 points to the host school’s 1,570.5 points.
“I am really happy with how, as a team, we swam,”
Gallagher said. “It was a good chance for us to evaluate what
we need to do. We saw some things that we are not so good at, and
we saw some things that we are really good at.”
UCLA’s dominance came off the strength of superior
individual performances by the team’s top swimmers. By the
end of the third day, the Bruins had set five different individual
school short-course records.
Vandenberg, who has been posting the fastest butterfly times in
the Pac-10 all year long, swam a personal best in the 200-meter
fly, winning the race in 2:8.11. Vandenberg’s time puts her
first in the UCLA record book, just ahead of former Bruin Katie
Younglove, who swam the 200m fly in 2:10.46 in 2000.
“This was a bigger meet than we have had so far this
season,” Vandenberg said. “The intensity was
greater than it has been in the past, so that definitely helped me
swim faster.
“It is really nice (to be in the UCLA record
book). This is something that I have wanted to do for a while,
so I am really happy that I made it,” she continued.
“Kim had a great meet,” Gallagher
said. “She is now has the top time in the country in the
200m fly.”
Senior Naoko Watanabe also set a school record, besting Nicole
Beck’s previous school record of 2:13.77 in the 200m
backstroke by over a full second, placing second last weekend with
a time of 2:12.73.
Senior Malin Svahnstrom was the final Bruin to improve on a
school short-course record. The senior swam the 200m individual
medley in 2:12.81.
Svahnstrom also holds the UCLA record in the intramural in
short-course yards.
The freestyle relay team had an outstanding tournament as well.
 The four-person team, consisting of Vandenberg, freshman
Katie Arnold, Svahnstrom and senior Sara Platzer set two school
records. The relay team swam the 200m relay in 1:42.57, which was
good enough to capture first in the Invitational. They placed
second in the 400m free relay, swimming the finals in 3:44.03.
“Some kids had a great meet,” Gallagher said.
“And some kids had an awesome meet. We really did
well.”
UCLA looks to continue its dominance Dec. 4 through Dec. 6 when
a split-squad will simultaneously compete in the Trojan
invitational and the U.S. Open. The Bruin’s next home
meet will be Jan. 7 against Washington State at the Men’s Gym
pool.