Early November saw the UCLA swim and dive team suffer its first loss of the season to Arizona 151-149. Members of the team will get the chance to avenge that loss this upcoming weekend.
“The door was open, we could have won,” said coach Cyndi Gallagher.
The Bruins will be facing many athletes from Pac-12 and non-Pac-12 schools alike, including athletes from Arizona and Arizona State, in their first action following a weekend that featured their first loss of the season.
UCLA will travel on the road this weekend, taking trips to Nevada and Arizona. The swim team heads to the UNLV Fall Invitational in Las Vegas, where it will compete today through Saturday. The dive team, on the other hand, heads to Tucson, Ariz., for the Arizona Diving Invitational Friday through Sunday.
Unlike the team’s previous meets this season, these meets will not be dual meets. The Bruins will face competition from athletes representing many different schools, as well as other challenges.
For starters, the size of these meets will be much bigger. According to sophomore diver Montana Monahan, the Arizona Diving Invitational will feature four times the amount of diving competitors than usual. To adjust to this, Monahan said that her attention will not be on her competitors, and that she will “eat right and stay occupied” in the longer breaks that the meet will have.
Swim will also face a much larger body of competition at the UNLV Fall Invitational, which will feature morning and evening sessions of swimming.
The three-day swim meet also means drastic changes in format from a standard dual meet.
The format, which will resemble that of an NCAA meet, will feature multiple heats for each event. This means that the meet will require preliminary swims for the events followed by finals for each event. Coach Gallagher noted that this will require the team, notably the freshmen who have yet to participate in a meet like this, to make adjustments.
This weekend will also be the first time the swim team will be traveling together in its entirety this season. Junior swimmer Jessica Khojasteh expressed her excitement, saying that it will be fun to be with the entire team, but it will be important to remain focused.
Even though the earlier dual meet in Arizona ended in a loss, the team showed strong signs of growth, especially among the freshmen, according to Gallagher. The team responded with a 183-113 win the next day over Arizona State.
But as for this weekend, the team understands that things will be strenuous. Gallagher joked that, while the athletes will face three straight days of competition, the women will make the most of the circumstance.
“(They can) rest on the ride to and from Las Vegas,” Gallagher said.