SWIMMING: In the NCAA Championships this past weekend in West
Lafayette, Ind., junior Kim Vandenberg made a splash. Vandenberg
finished third in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:55.08
and tallied four All-American honors, in the 100m fly, 200m medley
and 400m medley relays. The Bruins placed 18th as a team. Sophomore
Katie Arnold placed 25th in the 200m backstroke with a time of
1:59.05, earning her an individual All-American honor, while senior
Kim Scarborough finished 43rd (2:01.60) in that event. Freshman
Nicolette Teo recorded a 29th-place finish in the 200m breaststroke
(2:17.13). Junior Shellene Catalano placed 36th (2:18.32) and
freshman Chiemi Yamamoto finished 42nd (2:18.75) in the same race.
Sophomore Katie Nelson placed 26th in the 1,650m freestyle with a
time of 16:32.47. In the medley races, Arnold, Vandenberg and
juniors Eileen Seissen and Amy Thurman placed 14th in the 200m
medley relay and Arnold, Vandenberg, Teo and Nelson finished 13th
in the 400m. TRACK AND FIELD: The transition between the glide and
spin technique in the shot put hasn’t been easy for
UCLA’s Jessica Cosby, but the senior All-American showed
signs at Saturday’s Cal State Northridge Invitational that
she is making progress . Cosby, the NCAA champion in the shot put
as a redshirt freshman in 2002, used only the spin technique on
Saturday, taking first place with a season-best and
regional-qualifying mark of 53 feet, 9.25 inches. It was
Cosby’s best throw since the West Regionals last May, where
she finished third. Cosby’s performance was one of the
highlights of an exceptional meet for the UCLA throwers. Lara Saye,
who opened the outdoor season with a 183-foot throw two weeks ago,
improved on that effort Saturday, eclipsing her personal best with
a mark of 185 feet, 7 inches. Freshmen Greg Garza led a five-way
sweep of the discus for the Bruin men, surpassing his personal best
by almost nine feet with a regional-qualifying mark of 185-4. Josh
Rider also achieved a regional-qualifying mark in the discus,
taking second with a throw of 165-6. Most of UCLA’s sprinters
and hurdlers had the weekend off, and will return to the track for
the Stanford Invitational next weekend.
SOFTBALL: The UCLA softball team broke out of its rut this past
Thursday, taking home a pair of victories in the doubleheader
against Utah State at Easton Stadium. The Bruins (18-6) defeated
the Aggies (6-11) convincingly in the first game, 8-0, on a
run-rule in just five innings. But the nightcap game, a
seventh-inning come-from-behind 8-7 victory, was far different from
the first game. Leading 4-1 on a single to left field, Utah State
could not hold on with just two-and-a-half innings remaining. UCLA
used singles from Krista Colburn, Caitlin Benyi and Andrea Duran,
and Jodie Legaspi would get walked by Utah State relief pitcher
Jessica Garnett during the comeback. Emily Zaplatosch stepped up to
the plate with the bases loaded and knocked in a single down the
right field line, driving in two runners and knotting the game at
4-4. The Aggies scored three runs in the sixth and seventh innings,
but in the bottom of the seventh, UCLA roared back. Jaisa Creps
scored on an infield single by Benyi and shortstop error to give
the Bruins the decisive eighth run. UCLA will now have 11 days off
for winter quarter final exams and will return on March 29 to face
Cal State Fullerton.
WOMEN’S ROWING: The UCLA women’s rowing team
suffered its first loss of the season, falling to No. 14 USC on
Sunday at Marina Del Rey. Despite recording wins in the varsity 4+
and the novice 8+, the Bruins fell one point shy to the Trojans in
the dual race, with a score of 2 to 3. The Bruins have made strides
all season and it showed in the dual race. Last year, UCLA’s
varsity 8+ finished 10 seconds behind USC as opposed to this
year’s 2.6 seconds. Both UCLA and USC finished in a dead-heat
time of 6:33.4 in the second varsity 8+.
Compiled by Bryan Chu and Jeff Eisenberg, Bruin Sports
senior staff.