It would be the final time that senior swimmer Sara Platzer
would dive into a pool for UCLA. Last weekend in College Station,
Texas, Platzer was competing in the last leg of her collegiate
career, swimming with 11 other Bruins at the NCAA Swimming
Championships.
Platzer swam as if she was squeezing the last bit of glory from
her illustrious career, and in the morning’s preliminary, she
set a school record in the 100-meter freestyle. In the
evening’s finals, she swam her event in 54.59 seconds, good
enough for fourth place and All-American status. The fourth-place
finish is the second-highest that Platzer has ever achieved.
The only higher finish at an NCAA meet came two days earlier,
when Platzer bested a school record of 24.68 in the 50-meter
freestyle and finished the race in third.
On the strength of individual performances like Platzer’s
and an impressive showing by Bruin relays, UCLA finished seventh at
the 2004 NCAA Swim and Dive Championships.
All three UCLA relays qualified for the finals (which requires a
top eight finish in the morning’s preliminaries). Qualifying
for a final awards all swimmers in a relay All-American status.
On the first day of competition, freshmen Katie Arnold and Amy
Thurman, along with Platzer and senior Malin Svahnstrom, finished
sixth in the 200-meter freestyle relay. Later in the day, Arnold
(backstroke), Platzer (freestyle), senior Leslie Hovsepian
(breaststroke) and sophomore Kim Vandenberg (butterfly) finished
seventh in the 200-meter medley relay.
The final event of the competition for UCLA was the 400-meter
freestyle relay. Svahnstrom, Vandenberg, Platzer and Thurman
finished in eighth place. The team points from the relays proved
invaluable, propelling UCLA into seventh place with 195 points,
ahead of rival USC, who finished in ninth with 160.
Along with the All-American showing in the relays in which she
competed, Vandenberg also finished sixth in the 200-meter fly. It
is the second year in a row that Vandenberg had finished in the top
eight of the 200 fly at the national meet.
Freshman Katie Nelson also made a splash at her first-ever NCAA
tournament. The distance swimmer placed eighth in the 1500-meter
freestyle.
2004 marks the 17th time that coach Cyndi Gallagher’s
Bruins have finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships.