Powerful Bruins kick their way to 5-0 record

Tuesday, November 19, 1996

SWIMMING:

Finishing at top of most races secures Pac-10 sweepBy Kristina
L. Wilcox

Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA swim team proved this weekend that winning is not
always about placing first in each event, but being consistently at
the top.

The Bruins swept Arizona, Arizona State and Florida on Friday
and Saturday, giving them a perfect 5-0 record in regular-season
competition.

"It’s not necessarily the person who gets first, but the person
who gets second, third or fourth who really helps," swimming head
coach Cyndi Gallagher said.

Normally, a team that does not finish first in several races
does not end up winning the meet, but consistency and spirit gave
the Bruins that extra help they needed against tough Pac-10 rivals
Arizona and Arizona State.

"I haven’t felt this much positive energy in awhile," Gallagher
said after Saturday’s meet. "This is a powerful collection of
swimmers."

"The girls are on fire," Bruin swimmer (breaststroke) Lindsay
Etter said. "We are trying to win, and I’m very proud of that."

The performances of the relay teams were outstanding. The team
of Amanda Hall, Etter, Jill Jenkins and Keiko Price finished first
in the medley relays in both meets. The combination of Price,
Jenkins, Susan Trainer and Jackie Castellano won the 200-meter
freestyle medley on both days in two exciting races.

As the final event in a meet, the freestyle medley is usually
either a giveaway event, since one team is already in command of
the meet or it is the one that can cause a radical reversal in the
standings. It proved to be the latter this weekend.

On Friday, UCLA needed to place both first and third to beat
Florida, the stronger team of the two the Bruins faced in that
meet. Price started the race off extremely fast and finished second
in her leg of the relay. Jenkins then kicked it in to high gear,
putting UCLA in the lead for the rest of the relay.

The Bruins were in the same situation on Saturday, but against
Arizona this time. Earlier in the week, Coach Gallagher had said
that Arizona is bound for the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis.
However, it was evident this weekend that their relay team needs to
work on their exchange performance if they want to make it that
far.

The race concluded with the UCLA A team of Price, Jenkins,
Trainer and Castellano in first, the Arizona A team in second, and
their B squad in third. UCLA’s Julie Flynn, Katie Simmons, Cindy
Bertelink and Kimberly Wilson came in fourth.

On an interesting call that ultimately decided the fate of the
teams, one of the officials called a technical on the Wildcat B
swimmers for a faulty exchange, disqualifying them from the race.
As a result, both Bruin relay teams finished in the top three. The
final point total put UCLA ahead of Arizona, 150-148.

GENEVIEVE LIANG

Lindsay Etter in action at last Saturday’s meet against Arizona
State and Florida.