UCLA diving coach Tom Stebbins refers to them as “the
three.”
With important Pac-10 meets this weekend against No. 19 Arizona
State and No. 5 Arizona, senior Janine Strack and juniors Amanda
Blong and Paige Thompson will need to excel in a competition chock
full of diving talent if the ninth-ranked UCLA swimming and diving
team is to come out on top.
“I have really high hopes and expectations for these
three, and I really think this weekend starts all of this,”
Stebbins said.
On Saturday, against Arizona, the UCLA divers will be competing
against a similar triple threat, consisting of a junior world
champion, a German national team member and a French Olympian.
It sounds tough, but Stebbins feels his divers are poised for
the challenge
“The girls look quicker and stronger than ever, and
anything is possible,” Stebbins said.
Thompson has been at her best against the Arizona schools in the
past. Last year against Arizona State, she set a UCLA 3-meter
diving record, boasting a 329.70 point total. The following day
against the Arizona, she won the three meter with a score of 294.45
points.
Despite injuries plaguing her early on this year, Stebbins is
confident that Thompson can and will perform at least at the same
level as last year.
Her efforts in that meet a season ago helped propel the Bruins
to a 186-114 win over the Sun Devils. However, they narrowly fell
to Arizona 154-145.
For the divers, they will be looking to exact revenge in what
will be just their second meet of the year. Though there may still
be some rust from the offseason, the Bruins hope it won’t
show against the highly ranked Wildcats.
“I suspect we’ll probably have a bit of nerves going
into tomorrow,” Stebbins said. “We haven’t had a
whole lot of real meet experience this quarter.”
In the one meet where both the swimmers and divers competed
together, the Bruins took fourth place at the Purdue Invitational.
The swim team has gone 3-0 in their dual meets thus far this
season.
But none of those teams have been as strong as Arizona. And in
order for their record to remain perfect, the Bruins’
performance may need to be just that.