UCLA creates Pac-10 riptide
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 25, 1996 9:00 p.m.
UCLA creates Pac-10 riptide
By A. CinQue Carter
Daily Bruin Contributor
After a week of waiting and a weekend of competition, the
results are finally in, and the UCLA swim team finished an
impressive second overall in the Pacific 10 Conference Swimming and
Diving Championships.
After the swimming portion of the championships, which were
competed Feb. 15-17 at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, the Bruins were
in third place with 840.5 points. With Stanford in first place and
out of reach, one of the main Bruin goals for the diving portion of
the competition was to outscore the Trojans by at least 144 points
to move up one spot from third place.
Winning the diving portion for the second straight year wouldn’t
hurt either and with 1993 women’s diving coach of the year Tom
Scotty at the Bruin helm, a diving title seemed in reach.
So the confident Bruins stepped into the Hillenbrand Aquatic
Center in Tucson, Arizona, climbed the ladders and dove into the
competition. The first day brought a commanding lead for the
Bruins. Their 137 points were not even challenged by Stanford’s 64
or USC’s 39.
With freshman Amy Sloan finishing first and becoming Pac-10
champion on the 3-meter board with 450.75 points, UCLA had three
divers finish in the top four. Sophomore Rose Mary Huelskamp was
third with 436.5 points and senior standout Erin Simmons was fourth
with 431.65 points.
Stanford’s Megan Gardner was second with 448.75. The highest
Trojan finish in the 3-meter competition was sixth place with
423.85 points. Bruin Freshman Laura Segundo was eighth and
sophomore Tracy Wilcox was 10th.
Friday morning, USC was able to get a Pac-10 champion, but UCLA
ran away with the competition. Trojan Maria Elena Romero placed
first in the 1-meter with 389.55, while five Bruins finished
between fifth and ninth places.
Huelskamp was fifth with 363.85, Sloan was sixth with 358.35 and
Simmons was seventh with 347.95. Segundo and Wilcox were eighth and
ninth with 336.05 and 331.75 points respectively.
After the second day, the Bruins had taken over second place in
the overall competition and had a tremendous lead in the diving
portion with 263 points. Stanford was second in diving at 122 and
USC was third at 85.
Saturday’s competition was a little more balanced. No team
dominated, but Gardner continued her bid for diver of the year by
winning the platform event with 393.55 points. UCLA’s highest
finish again was fifth, but the Bruins did place five swimmers in
the top 11.
In three days of competition, the Bruins scored 320, the
Cardinal finished second, scoring 177, and the Trojans, finished
fifth with 125. Arizona State placed third with 164, and Arizona
was fourth with 144.Comments to [email protected]
