Looking to avenge a heartbreaking one-point loss of last season,
the No. 7 UCLA swimming and diving team travels to Arizona this
weekend to compete against both Arizona State University and the
University of Arizona.
In Pac-10 dual-meet action, both the Bruin swimmers and divers
will race against the Arizona teams in hopes of continuing their
four-meet undefeated streak.
The competition begins Friday in Tempe, Ariz., where the Bruins
(4-0, 1-0 Pac-10) will face the No. 25 Arizona State Sun Devils and
conclude on Saturday in Tucson, Ariz. where they take on the No. 6
Arizona Wildcats.
When the Bruins faced the Wildcats last November, UCLA fought to
the bitter end, but the Wildcats edged out UCLA by claiming the
victory in the final relay.
There they abruptly ended UCLA’s winning streak, much like
the circumstances the Bruins find themselves in this time
around.
The Bruins lead the all-time record against both ASU (14-8-1)
and Arizona (14-9), but as of late, the Wildcats have been giving
the Bruins trouble and are expected to pose just as great a
challenge this weekend.
“Arizona is one of the best teams in the nation,”
UCLA assistant swim coach Erika Hansen said. “I see no reason
why we won’t compete well with them; we just need the depth
of our team to fight for it.”
ASU, meanwhile, will likely prove less of a challenge to the
Bruin team than the Wildcats.
“Looking on paper, our posted times match up very well
with ASU,” Hansen said. “We need to step up on Saturday
against the University of Arizona where hopefully our outstanding
fall training and early season results will be indicators of how we
will swim.”
With promising swims at the SMU invitational in Dallas, Texas,
where the Bruins finished just behind reigning national champion
Florida, UCLA is prepared to compete well this weekend.
Contributors such as junior Katie Arnold and senior Kim
Vandenberg, who post some of the fastest times in the nation in
their respective events, are expected to seize first-place points
for the Bruins.
However, what will determine the outcome of the competition will
likely be the performances of other members of the team, including
those who less often find themselves in the spotlight.
“We need our distance swimmers and our freshmen to step up
and help us out,” Hansen said. “We need everyone to
play a role and help fight for those third-, fourth- and
fifth-place points.”
Along with the swimmers, the diving team will play a vital role
in the success of the Bruins in avenging last season’s
defeat.
At times overlooked, the divers make up a significant portion of
the final points and have proven time and time again to matter in
the overall success of the UCLA team.
“We need the divers to step up and help out just as we
expect from the swimmers,” Hansen said. “They are
important to the success of the team and will hopefully do good
things for us this weekend.”
This marks the last meet of the 2005 year for the swimming and
diving team. They will return to competition in early January.