By Regina Yeh
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA swimming team had barely enough time to get off the
plane and unload its luggage before immediately suiting up and
heading towards the pool to begin the three-day 54th annual Husky
Invitational held in Federal Way, Wash.
And despite the plane ride and the rush, the Bruins still came
out on top, dominating meet, held Thursday to Saturday, with three
meet records and 12 NCAA B qualifying times on Friday alone.
“We had barely enough time to get something to eat before
the meet was starting at the Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center, and then
we had to leave,” Assistant Coach Gregory Meehan said.
“But we did great. We had a really positive first day, and
all the swimmers are doing well.”
In the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:32:34, the Bruins
took home first place, setting a meet record andautomatically
qualifying them for an NCAA B-cut. Freshman Malin Svahnstrom
took first place as well, with her record-breaking time of 2:01:37
in the 200 IM. She later also took broke records with her 200-yard
freestyle and placed first in the 100-butterfly.
Sophomore Sara E. Platzer exemplified swimming of the same
caliber with her record score of 22.91 on the 50-yard
freestyle.
Overall, UCLA led the meet, winning six of the seven events on
the second day of the Invitational. The following Saturday
showed similar results, with another record-breaking time of
1:02:51 by senior Elvira Fischer in 100-yard breaststroke.
Saturday concluded with the Bruins, sweeping up four of the five
events and recording six more NCAA B qualifying times.
“During prelims on Saturday, we were already leading the
competition by around 150 points,” Meehan
continued. “We’re having a very good swim, a few
lifetime bests and over half of the swimmers going faster than the
times they got last year in the Pac-10. This is definitely a good
sign of how well we’re going to do later on this
year.”
The Bruins competed in the Invitational against other colleges
and many club teams, with the main competition being the Washington
Huskies. The Bruin team agreed that it was with the Huskies’
swimming alongside them that further motivated them to win.