After four grueling days of competition, the UCLA swim and dive
team captured second place in the 2004 Pac-10 swimming and diving
championships.
The tournament, which the Bruins won in 2003, was hosted by
Arizona State and held at the Belmont Pool in Long Beach.
The Bruins were bested by the Stanford Cardinal, whose 1,380
points topped the field. UCLA was second with 1,329, and Arizona
was third with 1,221.5.
Considering that UCLA had defeated Stanford earlier in the year,
the Bruins seemed to have a prime opportunity to take the
championships, but just came up short.
Although, they were unable to defend their championship, there
were some sterling individual performances.
In the final day of competition, freshman Katie Nelson broke a
UCLA record for the 1650-meter freestyle, swimming the event in
16:07.15, good enough for third place and an automatic bid to the
NCAA Championships.
In the 200-meter fly, sophomore Kim Vandenberg broke Annette
Salmeen’s 1996 school record of 1:55.84, but finished third
in the race.
Vandenberg, senior Malin Svahnstrom, freshman Amy Thurman and
senior Sara Platzer placed second at 3:19.72 in the 400-meter free
relay.
In her final Pac-10 meet, Platzer had an impressive
tournament.
Platzer swam the 100-meter freestyle in 0:49.29, good enough for
second place in the race and an invitation to the NCAA
tournament.
Team captain Kristen Lewis also shined in her final Pac-10
championship meet. The senior swam a personal best 1:56.77 in the
200 fly. The time not only placed her fifth in the race, but was
also an NCAA “˜A’ qualifying time.
Despite these impressive performances, the Bruins almost
assuredly do not have enough swimmers qualified in the NCAA
championships to contend for the team national title.
In the Pac-10 dive competition, which was held in Federal Way,
Wash., two Bruin divers advanced to the finals. Junior Janine
Strack placed sixth with a score of 367.40, and sophomore Paige
Thompson was eighth with a mark of 316.55.
The dive team will next take the final step in qualifying for
the NCAA Championships by competing in the Zone E Championships
March 11 through 13 in Oklahoma City. The swim team resumes
competition March 18 through 20 in College Station, Texas at the
NCAA Championships.