At USC’s Trojan Invitational this past weekend, the UCLA
diving team competed in one of its first meets of the season with
mixed results.
With several divers showing promise, the Bruins have something
to take away from the weekend. However, they also reiterated their
lack of satisfaction with moderate success and desire to improve as
the year continues.
Freshman diver Marisa Samaniego made a big splash, placing
second overall in the 3-meter event and fifth in the 1-meter
event.
“I was really pleased with Marisa. She has done a great
job getting acclimated to diving in college and she has really
started to take off,” UCLA coach Tom Stebbins said.
“One of the things that we stress most is making changes,
and Marisa is great at listening and adjusting to the changes that
I make on her dives.”
Samaniego comes from Altadena, not far from her new home in
Westwood. She used to dive at the Rose Bowl growing up, and
expressed familiarity with the pool. She was able to work with
Stebbins when she was as young as 12.
On Friday, the first day of the two-day tournament, Samaniego
placed fourth in the 1-meter and third in the 3-meter, allowing her
to continue on to the finals the next day.
“Marisa really likes diving and she especially likes the
competition of Saturday,” said Stebbins, referring to the
finals that took place on day two of the Invitational.
“Throughout the week, Marisa prepares for the meets by
working on technical expertise,” said Stebbins. “By
making good corrections with Marisa, we have been able to start
moving down the line quickly, and that has allowed her to succeed
early in her collegiate life.”
Samaniego was joined in the 3-meter finals by senior Paige
Thompson and redshirt junior Sara Clark, who placed seventh and
tenth, respectively.
Freshmen Tess Schofield and Brittany Hill were the only two
Bruins out of fifteen total competitors in the optional platform
event, which resulted in a fourth-place finish for Schofield and
seventh place for Hill.
The Trojan Invitational included most of the elite Zone E teams,
as well as Texas and Nebraska.
After the long meet came to an end, the team had mixed feelings
about the results. Although the Bruins are happy with their
individual placements, they realize that marked progress will be
necessary as the year goes on.
“We had a pretty good weekend. As far as changes that need
to be made, I will be working on creating a better sense of urgency
for the divers. I am always working on getting kids to live in the
moment,” Stebbins said.
Missing from the meet was senior diver Amanda Blong, who decided
to redshirt for the 2005-06 season after discussing the matter
extensively with coaching staff.
UCLA now enters a swing of meets that will carry them across the
country, traveling to both Arizona schools next weekend and then to
the Georgia Invitational in Athens at the beginning of
December.