For UCLA swimming, invitationals are a welcome opportunity for the team.
The atmosphere resembles big meets at the end of the year, such as the Pac-10 and NCAA Championships, and the swimmers get to compete in a multitude of events over multiple days, as opposed to Pac-10 dual meets.
UCLA will head to Long Beach for the Arena Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego today through Saturday at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.
After hosting four dual meets this year, multiple Bruins find themselves among the national leaders in their events.
Senior breaststroke specialist Brittany Beauchan currently ranks 11th in the country in the 100 breast and ninth in the 200 breast.
Junior Yasi Jahanshahi ranks seventh in the 100 butterfly and 12th in the 200 fly, while versatile senior Lauren Hall sits in the top 25 of four events: 400 individual medley (seventh), 200 IM (eighth), 200 breast (15th) and 200 fly (21st).
Other Pac-10 schools making the trip to Long Beach include Arizona State, Cal and Stanford.
Last season, UCLA finished third at this event when it was named the Toshiba Classic.
Compiled by Ryan Menezes, Bruin Sports senior staff.