Forty-nine lifetime bests and countless season-best performances characterized the Texas Invitational for the UCLA women’s swim and dive team.
And after such a performance, the Bruins look primed to make a strong second-half surge.
“It was a fantastic meet for us,” swim coach Cyndi Gallagher said.
Four swimmers qualified for the NCAAs ““ freshman Yasi Jahanshahi (200 fly), sophomore Dani Milligan (400 IM) and seniors Anna Poteete (100 free) and Madeline Stanton (200 back).
“Madeline swam out of her mind,” Gallagher said. “She had that attitude that every race was her last race.”
A native of Texas, Stanton swam in front of both friends and family in her home state. And she responded ““ Stanton strung together a series of strong performances.
“A lot of it has to do with the motivation to end it with a bang since it was my last time swimming here,” Stanton said. “I also needed to get the ball rolling so everyone could step up.”
The Bruins were also led by the performances of seniors Kristen Fischer, Erin Frizzell, Poteete and Stanton.
Stanton led the 200 IM swimmers with a lifetime-best time of 2:01.69, while Fischer also swam to a 19th-place finish, also tallying a lifetime-best time of 2:02.47. Poteete finished 10th in the 50 free while qualifying for the NCAAs with a time of 22.76.
Sophomore Emily Bibb swam a season best in the 500 free after swimming an NCAA qualifying time of 4:47:36. Along with Bibb, three other 500 free swimmers ““ sophomores Sam Vanden Berge (12th, 4:49.51), Dani Milligan (13th, 4:49.56) and Alex Sullivan (17th, 4:49.35) ““ swam NCAA marks.
Jahanshahi then finished 15th in the 100 fly with a time of 55.46.
“It was a great way to start off the meet,” Gallagher said.
On Friday, the Bruins tallied 11 more lifetime bests, 10 season bests and five NCAA “B” times.
UCLA was led by Stanton, who swam a lifetime best of 54.16 in the 100 back. Junior Isabell Fischer finished 10th in the 100 back, swimming a lifetime best and NCAA qualifying time of 54.37.
Sophomores Brittany Beauchan (100 breast) and Milligan (400 IM) also posted season”“best times. Bibb continued her outstanding swimming by finishing 12th in the 200 free while swimming a season-best and NCAA qualifying time.
On Saturday, Stanton placed 7th (1:56.18) in the 200 back finals, while Poteete finished 13th in the 100 free finals with a time of 49.59.
“All in all, I’m really proud of the team,” Gallagher said. “The divers did well on the platform ““ Tess, Morgan, Britt and Laura all stepped up.”
On Thursday, senior diver Brittany Hill posted a season-best score of 264.30 in the 3M competition.
Sophomore Laura Winn led the divers to a 13th place finish in the 1M after scoring a 222.25. Hill finished just behind Winn with a score of 219.45.
On Saturday, senior Tess Schofield led the UCLA platform divers with a 245.60, which placed her third, and sophomore Morgan Erpenbeck, who finished sixth with a 231.80 mark.
“We’re really clear about where we’re at,” dive coach Tom Stebbins said. “We weren’t as sharp as I would have liked, but I’m encouraged by a lot of the things I saw.”
UCLA finished the Texas Invitational fourth in a field of 17 teams and 45.5 points behind third-place University of Wisconsin.
“We certainly will put in a lot of work during the winter season,” Stebbins said. “We need to stay active.”
The next meet won’t come in nearly a month, when both the swimmers and divers will head south to UCI for the Ayres Hotel & Suites Sprint Invitational.