The UCLA women’s swim team (4-2, 2-2 Pac-10) entered Saturday two months removed from their last dual meet.
Yet here they were, in late January, already in their final home dual meet of the year.
Maybe it was the long layoff, maybe it was the sullen and overcast weather that hung over the SAC pool.
Whatever it was, UCLA would relinquish the 126-119 advantage they had going into the last event ““ the 400 freestyle relay.
Sophomore Lauren Hall took first with a time of 4:18.20 in a crucial 400 IM race that gave the Bruins their 126-119 lead, setting the stage for the 400 freestyle relay that would decide the match.
The Bruins had to grab both second and third in the final relay to pull out a victory, but the Washington sprinters got the better of the Bruins and captured both first and second place.
Senior Anna Poteete would help the Bruin “A” team jump out to an early lead after timing in at 51.06, half a second ahead of the Washington “A” team and nearly two seconds ahead of the Washington “B” team.
But from there, the Washington “A” team would pull away and would never look back, as the Washington “B” team and the UCLA “A” team would battle for second place.
UCLA freshman Annie Stefanec maintained the margin in the second leg of the heat, but the Washington “B” team stormed back behind strong swims from their third and fourth swimmers.
It came down to a duel between Chang and UCLA sophomore Lauren Hall coming down the home stretch.
Yet Chang prevailed and would out-touch Hall at the wall by 0.05 seconds.
The Huskies captured the top two spots in that relay, and as a result they took the meet, 134-128.
“All in all, we are just a little rusty,” swim coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “I think the more meets we have, the better we’re going to be.”
Though the Huskies took the lead at the onset by taking the opening 400 medley relay, sophomore Sam Vanden Berge helped the Bruins storm back, easily taking the 1000 yard freestyle in 10:01.49. Vanden Berge would also go on to take the 500 free in 4:54.20.
Washington countered with victories in both the 100 and 200 breast as well as the 100 and 200 back.
“I think we did relatively well today even though we hadn’t raced in a while,” Vanden Berge said.
“We raced in practice a lot. … I think we’re just getting back into things.”
Sophomore Emily Bibb followed Vanden Berge’s victory by winning the 200 free.
Freshman Yasi Jahanshahi also placed first in the 200 fly (2:00.82), while senior Anna Poteete took both the 50 and 100 free (23.68, 51.20).
“We had some good swims, but we didn’t give anything up for this meet,” Gallagher said.
“I still expect us to swim fast and I still expect them to win, so that was disappointing.”
SENIORS RECOGNIZED: Senior swimmers Kristen Fischer, Erin Frizzell, Anna Poteete and Madeleine Stanton were recognized prior to the meet, while divers Brittany Hill, Shannon Pirozzi, Marisa Samaniego and Tess Schofield were honored afterwards.
“(The seniors’) presence at practice everyday and their constant mentoring helped everyone learn something new, whether it was a life lesson, school lesson or swim lesson,” Vanden Berge said.
The seniors will no doubt have a big impact through the next three away meets at Stanford on Jan. 30, Cal on Jan. 31, and USC on Feb. 13.
“The next three meets are going to be really tough,” Gallagher said.
“We just have to go in and there race and not give up a point there and a point here like we did here today.”