In a meet designed for Olympic-caliber swimmers to tune-up for
international competitions and a chance to race against top-notch
competition, it comes as no surprise that many members of
UCLA’s women’s swimming team were present. Thirteen
Bruins were at the Janet Evans Invitational swim meet this weekend
at USC as a part of their summer swimming season. Ten of the 13 are
competing for UCLA, while the remaining three are representing
their respective club teams from their hometowns. The event, named
after the four-time Olympic gold medalist Evans, saw three UCLA
swimmers compete with success in multiple events. Kim Vandenberg,
one of the swimmers performing for UCLA, finished the 200-meter
butterfly in second place with a time of 2:13.58, just over two
seconds behind champion Dana Kirk of Stanford who represented the
United States at the 2004 Olympics. Bruin sophomore Chiemi Yamamoto
took a fourth place finish in the women’s 400-meter
individual medley with a time of 4:54.18, just seven seconds slower
than her personal best and six seconds behind first-place finisher
Hayley Peirsol, who clinched a spot on the U.S. World University
Games squad prior to this weekend’s meet. Yamamoto also raced
to a seventh place finish in the championship final of the
women’s 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:22.02, another
event that was won by Peirsol, who will be entering her third year
at Auburn University. Another member of UCLA head coach Cyndi
Gallagher’s women’s swimming team to have a top-five
finish this weekend was Katie Arnold. The junior-to-be finished in
fifth place in the women’s 50-meter freestyle with a time of
26.42 seconds. Although the Janet Evans Invitational is designed
only as a practice meet for a majority of the competitors seeking
to place at bigger events, many Bruins will use the experience to
enhance their performance in the upcoming swimming season.
WORLDLY AFFAIRS: Nicolette Teo of the women’s swimming
team will represent Singapore in the upcoming World Championships
in Montreal from July 17-31. The future sophomore will be swimming
in the 100 and 200-meter breast stroke. Current undergraduate
assistant Malin Svahnstrom also qualified to compete in the World
Championships for her native country of Sweden in the 800 Free
Relay. However, Svahnstrom, who currently holds four school records
at UCLA and was the 2003 Most Valuable Swimmer, declined the
trip.