In the final relay on Friday, UCLA swimmers stood at the side of the pool of the Spieker Aquatics Center, cheering for their teammates. They were making a huge comeback in the water, even though on the scoreboard they would not be able to outpoint Arizona.
Friday’s final score was 155-145, but it does not tell the story of the challenge that the No. 21 Bruins posed to the No. 13 Wildcats. The visiting team pocketed 10 points from two different races by only 0.01 seconds.
“It was two one-hundredths in a meet. It’s nothing,” said coach Cyndi Gallagher. “The score didn’t really indicate how close it was.”
The two narrow losses included the opening event, the 400-yard medley relay, and the 200-yard individual medley. But the Bruins were still able to win six out of 16 events.
In the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Bruin quartet went out in high spirits. Disregarding the fact that it was mathematically impossible to win on total score, they managed a massive comeback in the relay.
“We just wanted to finish it strong and make sure we got our hand on the wall first,” said senior Jessica Khojasteh, who swam the third leg of the relay.
On the dive team, freshman Maria Polyakova won the 3-meter but was unable to outpoint Arizona redshirt senior Samantha Pickens, an NCAA champion, in the 1-meter event.
At Saturday’s meet against Arizona State, Polyakova continued her strong performance. Although she made a small mistake at the end of the 1-meter event, Polyakova managed to win both the 1-meter and the 3-meter springboard.
“It was not perfect,” Polyakova said.” But it was good.”
At the same time, the Bruin swimmers refocused after Friday’s loss and triumphed in 15 out of 16 races, contributing to a 169-124 win on Saturday.
“I was happy that they came back and were still as determined,” Gallagher remarked. “To come back and refocus, and not get down like, ‘Oh, we lost.’”
In the 500-yard freestyle, sophomore Michaela Merlihan did not lead in the first 150 yards but managed to outswim Arizona State’s Anna Olasz in the end.
“I felt really good in the beginning,” Merlihan said. “But then the girl kind of pushed me to go faster. I just had that person to race with, which made me really motivated to swim fast.”
Madison White said competing in back-to-back meets was a challenge to help the Bruins prepare for future competitions.
“I would be lying if I said, ‘Oh, I feel great.’” White said. “But I think that’s how it’s supposed to feel. The meets where we have doubles right after each other is just getting us ready and prepared for Pac-12 and NCAAs.”