With the regular season in the books, the Bruins’ focus will turn toward the postseason.
UCLA swim and dive (8-3, 4-3 Pac-12) will head to Federal Way, Washington, on Tuesday, where it will compete for five consecutive days in the Pac-12 championships. Eight other Pac-12 schools will partake in the competition, including Stanford, California, USC, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Washington State.
UCLA began the regular season with an eight-meet winning streak, but faltered down the stretch against Stanford, Cal and rival USC.
“Those were tough teams we played against near the end,” said coach Cyndi Gallagher. “But we had some really good performances against USC that I think show we’re in good shape for Pac-12s.”
Among those strong performers was senior swimmer Emma Schanz, who finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.47. Despite the loss to USC, Schanz said she feels confident in both herself and her team as it heads into the postseason.
“As a team, we didn’t feel disappointed coming out of these games because they were tough competitors,” Schanz said. “This has definitely been one of our best overall seasons, and as a team, we’re really excited to compete and experience Pac-12s together.”
Unlike most of the meets the Bruins took part in this season, the Pac-12 Championships will be held at an indoor arena.
“We’re a lot happier that it’s indoors because we won’t have to hassle with any bad weather conditions,” Gallagher said. “It’s just straight competition, no outside factors involved.”
Heading into the Pac-12 Championships, the coaching staff continues to stress the importance of strong mental fortitude in the pool.
“For us, it’s really about managing those mental systems by minimizing anxiety, maximizing confidence, and allowing the dives to flow through them,” said diving coach Tom Stebbins. “When they try to force things or rush parts of their dive, it tends to mess things up.”
Gallagher echoed Stebbins’ attitude, hoping the team focuses more on the joy of competing rather than the possibility of failure.
“They’re smart kids, so they have a tendency to overanalyze everything,” Gallagher said. “Having that joy, fun and relaxed confidence that we’ve had all year is key to good execution. We won’t dwell on the things that don’t go our way.”
Competition will begin Wednesday morning.