Traveling to both Texas and San Diego for meets this weekend,
the UCLA swim and dive team divided its athletes and had two
successful competitions.
Placing third in the Southern Methodist University Invitational
in Dallas, Texas and defeating UC San Diego and the University of
San Diego in La Jolla, the Bruin swimmers extended their dual meet
undefeated streak to four.
“The weekend was a good one,” UCLA diving coach Tom
Stebbins said. “It was a real big success for us.”
Eight swimmers and one diver traveled to Dallas, representing
UCLA against teams that the Bruins usually only face at Nationals,
and giving them a taste of likely competition further down the
road.
Junior Katie Arnold was the leading scorer for the Bruins in
Dallas, earning the title of “High-Point Swimmer of the
Meet.” In two days of competition, Arnold placed first in
three events and third in another.
“Katie Arnold was huge for us in Dallas,” Stebbins
said. “She out-performed everyone else as an individual and
was a huge part of a couple of our relays.”
Along with Arnold, senior Kim Vandenberg had impressive swims,
most notably her first-place finish in the 200 Fly (1:57.47), where
she broke a meet record previously held by Olympian Misty
Hyman.
Redshirt Junior Sara Clark, the lone diver representing the
Bruins, placed an impressive third on the boards in 3-meter
(235.90) and fifth in 1-meter (215.85).
Meanwhile, in San Diego, the Bruins dominated both UCSD and USD
despite missing nine key team members.
“The team we have right now is very exciting,”
Stebbins said. “We are led by Vandenberg, but the kids we
have who are juniors and sophomores are really the core of the
program. They are an exciting group, very athletic, very
competitive.
“For October, to have these kind of results this early is
very exciting.”
UCLA posted 10 individual victories in San Diego, including two
in diving action and an additional win in the 400 Medley relay.
Junior Jane Imagane led the San Diego group with dual victories
in the 1,000 Free (10:07.33) and 500 Free (4:54.83). She also
finished second in the 200 Free.
Also placing first in their events on Saturday were senior
Eileen Seissen (100 Breast, 1:04.92), senior Krista Daley (200 Fly,
2:05.16), sophomore Katherine Wong (50 Free, 24.63), freshman
Madeleine Stanton (200 Back, 2:07.28), sophomore Chiemi Yamamoto
(200 Breast, 2:21.23), junior Isabel Miesner (100 Fly, 58.52),
freshman Marisa Samaniego (1-meter dive, 226.55) and senior Paige
Thompson (3-meter dive, 259.60).
With a highly successful weekend, the Bruins have a break from
competition until Nov. 18, when their Pac-10 schedule resumes with
a trip to Arizona for a weekend of dual-meet action.
“We are in a great spot, especially for this early on in
the season,” Stebbins said. “We have the best dynamic
we have ever had.”