For the first time in Tom Stebbins’ eight years as coach
of the UCLA diving team, one of his freshmen has qualified for the
NCAA Championships. The diver, Marisa Samaniego, competes this week
at the meet in Athens, Ga., today through Saturday.
“It’s great for Marisa to have this experience so early
in her collegiate career,” Stebbins said. “I am
thrilled she can build on her success at such a young age.”
Only 41 women in the nation received invitations to the event.
“To be a part of the NCAA meet is very special,”
Stebbins said. “It’s really, really tough to qualify as
a freshman.” Stebbins attributes much of Samaniego’s
achievements to her aptitude. She quickly learned to make the
necessary adjustments to compete on the college level. Although
thrilled to make the cut, Samaniego admits the news somewhat
shocked her. “I always thought the championships would be
something great to attend,” she said. “(It) was always
in the back of my mind, but I never actually (envisioned) it would
happen,” she said. In fact, Samaniego felt so sure she would
not qualify, she even told her parents to make other arrangements.
“I told them not to worry about buying airplane tickets for
Georgia, since I probably wouldn’t make it,” she said.
While her parents listened to their daughter’s advice,
Samaniego is happy her father came to watch her dive at the Pac-10
Championships in Washington and the NCAA Zone E qualifying
tournament in Oklahoma last weekend, where she placed eighth in the
one-meter and 12th in the three-meter. Now, only a week after
intense competition at the qualifying tournament, Samaniego had to
quickly prepare for the meet in Athens. “This is
tough,” she said. “Usually after a diving meet I have
more time to come back down from my high,” she said. With
Samaniego slightly nervous about her first trip to the meet,
Stebbins knows his diver has the ability to succeed, and all she
needs to do is calm herself before the competition.
“It’s good for her,” Stebbins said. “Marisa
is a highly trained elite athlete. She’ll be fine physically.
It’s more the emotional part she needs to get ready.”
Careful not to mess with a good thing, Stebbins will not make any
changes to Marisa’s diving repertoire until the season ends.
“For now, she is going with what we have, and I’m
really pleased,” Stebbins said. “This fall we will beef
up her list.” Those changes will prove necessary if
Samaniego, already claiming the best collegiate start of any diver
in Stebbins’ career, wants to become more competitive with
the highest-ranked divers.
SWIMMING: Eight UCLA swimmers will accompany Samaniego this
weekend in Athens for the NCAA Championships for swimming. Led by
senior Kim Vandenberg, the No. 7 Bruins’ swimming team aims
to see some NCAA-best times, and hopefully a few All-American
honors. Vandenberg currently has the third-fastest 200-meter fly
time in the country, putting her in a good position to win an NCAA
title. Vandenberg is also competing in the 100-meter fly and the
50-meter freestyle. And after a breakthrough performance at the
Pac-10 Championships, junior Katie Nelson heads to the meet seeded
12th for the mile swim. Aside from Nelson and Vandenberg, sophomore
Chiemi Yamamoto, senior Katie Arnold, freshman Anna Poteete, junior
Amy Thurman, senior Eileen Seissen and sophomore Nicolette Teo also
head to Athens. Arnold has a chance to win an NCAA title, as she is
competing in the 50-m freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter
backstroke. Arnold ranks eighth in the nation in the 200-m
backstroke, with a best time of 1:56.19.