The No. 14 UCLA women’s swim and dive team couldn’t have picked a better time to stay at home.
This weekend, when the team squares off against No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 Cal, they’ll be competing at UCLA for the first time since their season-opening meet against Idaho.
“With Cal, in the past, it’s always come down to the last event,” swim coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “Both (meets) have always been very exciting. It’s great competition. We recruit a lot of the same kids, especially Cal. So I know their team intimately. I expect great races.”
Gallagher’s expectations are not without merit. While UCLA is only 3-23 all-time against Stanford and only 9-16 against Cal, UCLA has bested the Cardinal twice in the last four years and has come within 10 points of defeating the Golden Bears twice during the same stretch.
The Bruins (5-1, 2-1 Pac-10) will challenge Stanford (4-1, 3-1 Pac-10) today and Cal (3-1, 2-1 Pac-10) on Saturday. The diving portion of Friday’s meet will be held at USC so that teams can compete in the platform event.
The weekend’s marquee swim matchups will feature UCLA’s Anna Poteete, Stanford’s Brooke Bishop and Cal’s Emily Silver facing off in the freestyle sprints, as well as fierce competition between Bruin Olympian Nicolette Teo and Cardinal Olympian Caroline Bruce in the breaststroke.
UCLA swimmers have not competed in a formal meet since December, and Teo said they are eager to get going again.
“I’m really excited for this weekend,” Teo said. “We’ve put a lot of work in, and it’s time to be fast.”
The divers are looking to bounce back from a disappointing performance in Hawaii last weekend, which was highlighted solely by junior Tess Schofield’s platform win on the final day. Stanford is led by freshman sensation Meg Hostage, who will look to challenge UCLA junior Marisa Samaniego, winner of six events this season.
UCLA dive coach Tom Stebbins said that while he was unhappy with the results from Honolulu, the team has been making adjustments to prepare for the Bay Area schools.
“We’re going to have to contend with a really tough Stanford team on Friday with a lot of good kids,” Stebbins said. “(Stanford) certainly has the conference freshman of the year up there. Cal is a little younger and not quite as deep, but it won’t be easy.”
The Bruins may have to go without Schofield however, who has already notched three wins on platform. While executing a dive in the 1-meter event last weekend, Schofield slammed both of her hands into the springboard, injuring her wrists. X-rays came back negative, but the team is exercising caution to ensure no further damage is done before Pac-10 conference play.
“I’ve actually (injured my hands and wrists) twice before, doing the same exact thing, so it was kind of just frustrating,” Schofield said. “I’ve been though the rehab process before so I knew it would be about a week before I could dive head-first again. It was probably more frustrating than painful.”
Both coaches say they are looking for athletes to raise their games this weekend and obtain desperately needed points. Stebbins said he needs a replacement for Schofield to make huge strides.
“The critical piece is going to come down to the three kids that I’m looking to step up and make something happen,” Stebbins said. “Shannon Pirozzi, Brittany Hill and Megan Erpenbeck I think have all been riding a little too much on Marisa’s and Tess’s coattails and kind of just muddling along. I think there’s a lot more in all three of them, and I’m just waiting to see which one of them decides to take it and run away from the other two.”
On the swim side, Gallagher said she needs the team to perform well in relays.
“We’re trying to figure out who’s going to be a gamer,” Gallagher said. “Who wants to play? We’ve got a lot of people who could potentially be great, and we need to know who is going to embrace that and just race.”
Competitive aspect aside however, more than anything, Gallagher expects this weekend at home to be fun.
“Parents and the crowd are going to be here, so it’s (the swimmers) time to showcase all the hard work that they’ve done,” Gallagher said. “We don’t feel any pressure at all. We’re absolutely, 100-percent the underdogs. It’s their time to show what they’ve got and compete with the best.”