Katie Kinnear came off the last wall in the 200 yard butterfly knowing that she had a little bit extra to give. The senior swimmer, who had trailed USC freshman Madison Wright up until that point, propelled herself forward with one final push, finishing with a winning time of 1:56.60 – .22 milliseconds faster than the rival Trojan.
“All we think about going into this meet is just beating ‘SC as a team. After four years, it just builds every year – the drive to want to beat them more,” Kinnear said. “I didn’t really look at her until the last lap or 50 to last 25, and then I saw her and I was like, ‘Okay I still have some left in me, I can do it.'”
Despite Kinnear’s career-best effort, No. 19 UCLA (6-4, 3-4 Pac-12) fell to No. 7 USC (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) in the final meet of the regular season before the Pac-12 Championships. The Trojans defeated the Bruins 181-119, marking the ninth straight time that USC won the crosstown series.
Friday’s meet at Spieker Aquatics Center was marked by several outstanding efforts from the home team. Junior Linnea Mack broke the pool record in the 100 yard backstroke and junior Madison White fought through bronchitis to put together a strong all-around showing.
Swimming coach Cyndi Gallagher was encouraged by the consistent progress that she has seen from the team over the course of the season, but acknowledged that the small details still need to be refined.
“Our girls know what the deal is, they know what their job is and they understand that this meet is just a stopping point,” Gallagher said. “The most important thing is noticing that we made mistakes that need to be corrected. … We were not perfect by any means, but we swam fast and I’m happy with how they swam.”
The Bruin divers also competed against the Trojans in both the 1- and 3-meter springboard events. The 3-meter event was marked by mental lapses and underwhelming performances from UCLA. Junior Annika Lenz had a missed dive and sophomore Maria Polyakova finished outside of the top two for the first time all season.
“For Annika, she just missed her last step going into her hurdle (on the 3-meter) and that is something we are continuously practicing on,” said diving coach Tom Stebbins. “Mental toughness is very important and is something that we spend a lot of time trying to develop in our divers.”
The Bruins were able to compose themselves, bouncing back in the 1-meter by placing four divers in the top five, including top three finishes by Lenz and Polyakova, who went on to win the event.