In the 100-yard freestyle, senior Linnea Mack nearly upended five-time Olympic gold medalist and Stanford freshman Katie Ledecky on Friday. Mack swam a time of 49.81, just short of Ledecky’s 49.33.
Ledecky was one of a few big names at UCLA swimming and diving’s meets over the weekend. Stanford also had junior Simone Manuel, the first black woman to win an Olympic gold in individual swimming, and California had sophomore Kathleen Baker, the 100-meter backstroke Olympic silver and 400-meter medley relay Olympic gold medalist.
With steep competition staring them down, No. 19 UCLA came up short in both attempts at an upset bid. The team fell to No. 2 Stanford 127-104 at Avery Aquatic Center and No. 6 Cal 165-128 at the Spieker Aquatics Complex on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The Bruins only managed three wins out of 13 events on the first day and three out of 16 on the second.
Despite the consecutive losses, swimming coach Cyndi Gallagher said she was satisfied with the overall team performance.
“They did very well for going against what I think are the number one and two teams,” Gallagher said. “We definitely showed some leadership with Linnea, and Madison (White) and Kenisha (Liu) did really well.”
Against California, Mack also came in first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.22 and second in the 100-yard freestyle.
In the 200-yard backstroke, senior White touched the wall first while juniors Marie-Pierre Delisle and Natalie Amberg finished third and fourth on both days. White clocked a time of 1:55.77 Friday.
“It was good to go against tougher competition in the Pac-12 to get ourselves ready for the meet end-February and NCAAs,” White said. “I made my race strategy something I’m really confident in. I’m proud of how I did.”
Against the Cardinal, freshman Liu was first among the nonexhibition swimmers in 200-yard breaststroke with 2:14.36 in a 1-2-3 finish. Senior Brigitte Winkler and sophomore Emma Schanz were in second and third place, respectively. Against the Bears, Liu was again first in the 200-yard breaststroke, as well as coming in second in the 400-yard individual medley and third in the 200-yard freestyle.
Diving coach Tom Stebbins expressed frustration at his squad not performing optimally. Stebbins said he believed a contributing factor was the weather conditions in Los Angeles affecting the team’s training plans.
“I mean, obviously I think we could be better,” Stebbins said. “I’m hoping the weather at home changes. … It’s been so cold and so rainy and so windy that we really haven’t been able to do as much as we require to be at our best.”
Junior diver Ciara Monahan scored 284.93 to earn second place in the 1-meter event and 304.35 to finish third in the 3-meter event versus Stanford. Versus Cal, Monahan finished third and second in the 1-meter and 3-meter events respectively, behind the Cal sophomore Phoebe LaMay in both events. Senior Annika Lenz finished second in the 1-meter against Cal.
The Bruins will be looking to regain their footing at the crosstown showdown against the rival USC Trojans on Feb. 10.