The UCLA divers headed north to Federal Way, Wash. for the Pac-10 Championships Wednesday with high expectations.
After all, dive coach Tom Stebbins had said earlier this week, “This is where our season begins.”
The team sought season-best scores. Optimism brewed.
And they didn’t disappoint.
Senior Marisa Samaniego set the tone early and her fellow Bruin divers responded with season-best scores ““ including an emotional performance from sophomore Laura Winn that shook the Federal Way audience.
Samaniego emerged with her first conference crown after posting a season-best score of 320.85 on Thursday.
But it wasn’t easy.
The All-American had to face off against crosstown rival Tory Ishimatsu, who had gotten the best of Samaniego on Feb. 13, and the two went at it dive after dive.
“I knew I could have done a couple of things better (coming off the second place finish at USC), but when the finals came I only thought about putting six really good dives together,” Samaniego said.
In the end, she narrowly edged Ishimatsu by less than seven points.
“It was not only (Ishimatsu), but all the divers that really make me step up,” Samaniego said.
Freshman Alyssa Robinson continued her surge to the top after being hampered by injuries earlier in the fall, advancing to the 1M final and finishing eighth with a score of 256.05.
“She’s a quick learner, a sensational athlete and a really hard worker, and when you have those three things working together, you’re going to get a great performance,” Stebbins said.
On Friday, Robinson finished fifth while establishing her lifetime-best score of 294.55 in the 3M finals.
But what really stood out was Winn’s performance on the tower.
“She had absolutely the most electrifying performance of the weekend,” Stebbins said.
With Winn’s nightmarish accident, in which she hit her head on a diving board last year at the same pool, still engrained solidly in each of the divers’ memories, Winn squashed any apprehension in the air by obliterating her lifetime-best score twice and finishing second overall.
Winn first erased her previous lifetime best with 231.10 in the preliminary round then upped her score to 252.05 in the finals, which qualified her for the NCAA Zone meet.
“It definitely was a very emotional weekend for me,” Winn said. “It was hard to step back into the same pool and relive last year.”
Samaniego was one of the first to give her teammate a congratulatory hug.
“When she got to the final, she couldn’t miss anything and everyone there just stood up and screamed,” Samaniego said.
“She’s such a comeback story.”
The swim team, however, did not fare as well.
Both the 800 free and 200 medley relay teams continued their season-long struggle, finishing seventh.
What the Bruins did manage to do was to get a good glimpse of the youth and their bright future.
In the 500 free, sophomore Dani Milligan swam a lifetime-best and NCAA consideration time of 4:48.38 in the preliminary rounds on Thursday. She also posted a lifetime-best and NCAA consideration time of 4:13.63 in the 400 IM on Friday.
Both sophomore Lauren Hall (2:00.81) and senior Kristen Fischer (2:01.23) posted lifetime-best times while coming in 21st and 22nd, respectively, in the 200 IM C Final.
Junior Isabell Fischer also set a lifetime-best and NCAA mark in the 100 back (53.62). Fischer went on to swim a lifetime-best and NCAA consideration time of 1:56.72 in the 200 back.
Freshman Bianca Casciari (54.69) and senior Kristen Byers (54.41) both set a lifetime-best in the 100 fly.
Overall, the Bruins finished sixth in a field of nine with 659 points, while Cal pulled away from Arizona to win the Pac-10 title.
Largely due to another fast year in the pool, it is likely that not all of the swimmers who swam NCAA B consideration times will move onto the NCAA Championships March 19.
On the diving side, five divers including Samaniego and Winn will move on to the NCAA Zone E Championships March 12.
Bruin Sports senior staff writer Matt Stevens contributed to this report.