Entering the final leg of the 2003 Pac-10 season, the Bruin swim
team is diving into choppy water. No. 13 UCLA (5-1, 2-1, Pac-10)
travels to the Bay Area this weekend to race in two pivotal
conference meets.
It looks to be a difficult road trip. Friday at 1 p.m., the
Bruins will take on No. 4 Stanford (5-2, 1-1 Pac-10) at the
deGuerre Pool in Palo Alto.
The defending Pac-10 champion Cardinal is led by Tara Kirk, who
has never lost a collegiate race in the 100 breaststroke.
Stanford has been a perennial obstacle for the Bruins, defeating
UCLA in 20 of their last 21 meets.
“There is a lot of competition up North,” two-time
NCAA qualifier Kristin Lewis said.
Friday’s meet is only the beginning of a very competitive
weekend for the Bruins. On Saturday, UCLA will pay a visit to No. 9
Cal. The Golden Bears (5-2, 1-1 Pac-10) should also provide UCLA
with brutally tough competition, having taken 11-of-20 meets
against the Bruins in the all-time series.
Cal is led by junior phenom Natalie Coughlin, a two time NCAA
Swimmer of the Year. Coughlin currently holds more American records
(33) than years of age (20).
If there was an optimum time for UCLA to face this intimidating
competition, it is now.
UCLA is coming off an overwhelming 139-94 victory over the UCSD
Tritons last Saturday and is racing in exceptional form.
“The team is swimming very well; we are looking very
fast,” junior Taylor Spivey said. “We are excited to
swim against these top teams; I think we will give them a run for
the money.”
“Every meet we seem to get faster,” head coach Cyndi
Gallagher added.
This weekend’s meets are not only very important to the
conference standings, but they serve as an excellent chance for the
Bruins to race the elevated level of competition that they can
expect to see at the NCAA championships on March 20. UCLA has four
swimmers already automatically qualified to swim that day (Malin
Svahnstrom, Kristen Lewis, Kim Vandenburg and Sara Platzer), and 11
others and two relay teams have provisionally qualified for the
national tournament.
“We really do a good job of getting swimmers to
NCAAs,” said Gallagher.
“It is nice that the swimmers who have made it are already
in. Now they have a little bit of pressure off, which is a really
good thing.”