The Bruin swimming and diving teams head in different directions once again, with the swimmers hitting the road and the divers staying home for the first meet in Westwood of the 2015-16 season.
The swimming team will begin 2016 in Salt Lake City competing against Boise State and Utah at the Ute Natatorium. This will be the Bruins’ first time facing the Utes in Salt Lake City since Utah joined the Pac-12 in 2011.
The meet will be their first in more than a month, but the Bruin swimmers spent the majority of winter break training for the tough month ahead.
“They haven’t had a meet in a while,” said swimming coach Cyndi Gallagher. “Some of them haven’t had a meet since the middle of November. We’ve been racing every day in practice, so it shouldn’t be that big of a difference. But still, practice and competition can sometimes be different.”
Arguably the greatest challenge facing the Bruins this weekend has nothing to do with water. Salt Lake City sits at an elevation of 4,330 feet, about 4,000 feet higher than what the swimming team is accustomed to in Los Angeles.
With the thinner air in Utah, the swimmers will likely record below-average times but can use the meet to concentrate on refining their technique, a mindset they’ve embraced this season.
“We’re more process-oriented and not as much result-oriented,” said junior swimmer Savannah Steffen. “(We want to keep) working on the things we’ve been working on in practice.”
The diving team will begin the year hosting 13 schools at the Bruin Diving Invitational at Spieker Aquatics Center. The home meet will feature all eight UCLA divers.
UCLA will face off against three Pac-12 schools – Utah, USC and reigning women’s swimming and diving champion Cal.
“The conference foes will present us the biggest issues,” said diving coach Tom Stebbins. “There’s nobody from outside the conference that has been super competitive at the Zone (Championship) meet the past couple of years.”
The Bruins could use a solid performance from junior Annika Lenz, who recorded a pair of top-two finishes at the Trojan Diving Invitational but is coming off a mixed performance at the USA Winter Diving National Championships.
“It didn’t go well (at the National Championships) but … she dove so well in Minnesota (at November’s Jean K. Freeman Invitational) and she’s dived very well through practice,” Stebbins said. “I’m looking forward to seeing her bounce back this week.”
These meets
present the swimming and diving teams with an early opportunity to gauge their preparation for difficult conference meets against Stanford and Cal at the end of the month.