Entering the dog days of summer, five UCLA swimmers recently took to the pool to compete at the Phillips 66 National Championships.
Rising seniors Lauren Baker, Anna Senko and Kathryn Murphy were joined in Indianapolis, Ind., by incoming freshmen Linnea Mack and Madison White at the five-day meet, which featured swimmers from the amateur, collegiate and professional ranks.
In addition to exposing the UCLA contingent to competition at the national level, the meet also afforded the Bruins the opportunity to implement new strategies in a competitive setting.
“I’ve been trying to work on my closing speed in my races. I think I still need to work on that, but it’s definitely something I have been improving,” Baker said. “It’s just that last little part, just trying to have more speed and be able to finish faster.”
The hard work paid off for Baker, who has mixed in more aerobic intensive training on top of race-paced training to help improve her endurance. The rising senior posted personal bests in the 1500-meter and 800-meter freestyle, with times of 16:42.36 and 8:46.91 respectively, good for 13th and 17th in the events.
Meanwhile, despite battling a nagging rib injury that has forced her to miss practice time, Senko competed in five separate events while in Indianapolis. It was an up-and-down meet for the junior, who finished 22nd in the 200m butterfly, 25th in both the 200m backstroke and 50m fly and 21st in the 200m individual medley. She still managed to reach the B final for the 100m fly, where she placed 14th with a time of 1:00.50.
“(The injury) has been a challenge. There isn’t really much recovery until I stop swimming so managing the pain is all I can really do,” Senko said.
“Overall, (the meet) was a mixed bag, I would have liked to have done better but that is what U.S. Open is for. I’m just going to get back to work and start training for the next one.”
Senko’s Bruin counterparts had uneven performances in Indianapolis as well.
Murphy, the school record-holder in the 50m free, finished 34th in the event, her lone swim of the meet, while Mack placed 44th in the 100m backstroke. However, both Mack and White made the C final of the 50m backstroke, with White finishing in 20th, and Mack just one spot behind her in 21st. White also reached the B final of the 200m backstroke, where she placed 15th with a time of 2:14.35.
Baker placed 13th, representing the best finish for the any UCLA swimmer at the event, and no Bruin qualified for the World University Games, which is held in Kazan, Russia, and runs from July 6 to July 17. However, coach Cyndi Gallagher chose to emphasize experience over results, saying that the meet represented an opportunity for her swimmers to test their ability and grow.
“It’s all about competing and challenging yourself and knowing that sometimes you’re going be great and sometimes you’re not going to be great,” said Gallagher. “But those times when you’re not going to be great, that’s usually when you’re going to make some changes. You always have to continuously make changes and make improvement.”