With the arrival of the cold winter quarter, the UCLA swim and dive teams haven’t been hibernating; rather, they’ve turned to an avalanche of momentum from early meets to stay motivated.
Several swimmers, including junior Anna Senko, achieved NCAA qualifying times in the AT&T Winter National Championships before winter break, and many more attained national rankings. Senko is 15th in the 200 individual medley and junior Lauren Baker is 15th in the 1650 freestyle.
Making NCAA cuts so early in the season does more than just ensure the swimmers’ postseason eligibility. It also has an impact on the team’s mind-set.
“People really stepped up and it was a good racing experience. We had a good group of girls go and get some really fast times in, which is good to do early in the season,” senior Rachel Godfred said. “It’s less stressful at the end of the season to post some good times early.”
Less focus on making cuts means the swimmers have been able to focus on elements of their stroke rather than week-to-week performance.
“Winter training has been a lot more focused than before. We’re really trying to work on our technique and making sure we’re working on a the little details that will eventually come together in the end,” Godfred said. “We’re just kind of taking it one step at a time, and it’s been working.”
As training ramps up throughout the quarter, the team will rely on its strong bond, cultivated over the holidays through events like a New Year’s Day hike, a team brunch and a movie night. It is a bond that swimmers say has been crucial to their success so far.
“We really developed a really good team this year that’s really close-knit and really supports each other,” Godfred said. “I think it’s already provided us with a lot more than we had last year. Everyone’s really positive in practice and really cheering each other on and really trusting each other.”
And although the diving team is much smaller, coach Tom Stebbins said he has noticed the same trend among his athletes this year – despite their innate competitive natures.
“What’s nice about this group is they’re really supportive of each other. They like to get in and mix it up; they’re very competitive with each other,” Stebbins said. “But they also recognize when somebody may need a little bit of a pick-me-up and a little bit of help.”
The next month will feature competition against perennial national contenders, Cal and Stanford, as well as a number of other strong teams.
“We’ve had a lot of good, positive momentum, but now is the time. It was all fun and games then, but now they gotta step up,” swim coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “It’s a really strong, positive, mentally-tough team.”
Email Sari at szureiqat@media.ucla.edu.