Swim and dive loses to Bay Area schools
Junior diver Karina Silva won the 3-meter event against the Bears on Saturday, but the UCLA swim and dive team fell to No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 Cal this weekend.
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 31, 2010 10:45 p.m.
As the swimmers turned and headed for home in the last leg of the 4×100 freestyle relay, the final event of the day, UCLA and California were locked in an extremely close battle that had the small crowd at the Spieker Aquatics Center louder than ever.
Everyone’s focus shifted from the pool to the scoreboard as the two swimmers slammed into the wall. The result flashed on the screen: Cal’s Erica Dagg had touched ahead of UCLA junior Lauren Hall by just .17 seconds.
Cal, the defending national champion, took 13 of the 16 events and won by a final margin of 41 points.
Yet on the UCLA side of the pool, there was no groaning, no sense of disappointment, and no hanging of heads.
“That last relay was the coolest race,” swim coach Cyndi Gallagher said with excitement. “They swam with confidence, our team did. We left on a good note.”
UCLA (5-3, 2-3 Pac-10) dropped both dual meets to its Pac-10 foes from the north, losing to No. 4 Stanford (8-0, 4-0) 169-126 on Friday, and No. 5 Cal (5-1, 3-1) 167-128. Though the margins of victory were large both days, Gallagher was proud of the way her team handled the tough competition and pleased with the times they posted.
“We didn’t get intimidated by them, they’re just swimmers,” Gallagher said. “We were just focusing on ourselves.”
Junior Brittany Beauchan once again had an excellent weekend in the breaststroke events, finishing first in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.09, 1:02.68) and second in the 200 breaststroke (2:15.63, 2:14.71) on both days, while posting times below the NCAA B Standard in all four races. Freshman Laurence Delisle also posted wins against both schools, dominating the field in the 200 back both Friday (2:00.05) and Saturday (2:00.73).
Gallagher said she was pleased with how her team competed against the likes of Julia Smit and Elaine Breeden of Stanford, and Sara Isakovic of Cal, all Olympians in 2008, and believes her team is making progress.
“I think we are a much improved team this year, and I think next year we’ve got great incoming freshmen, and we’re just going to keep getting better,” Gallagher said.
“We were just so competitive, and the competitive spirit just helped everyone do their best,” said sophomore Annie Stefanec, whose personal best times were a key to the Bruins’ success in the freestyle relays this weekend. “It helped me swim really fast.”
Stefanec echoed Gallagher’s sentiments, adding that now that their young team has seen Stanford and Cal up close, they know what it takes to win.
“Cal and Stanford, they’re both great teams, we just need to be a little bit better,” she said. “So going into championship season we know what we need to do to beat them and be where they are.”
On the springboards, the divers were led by junior Karina Silva, who won the 3-meter event against Cal. Freshman Michelle Vale, the lone UCLA diver without a Zone Qualifying Score going into the weekend, broke 255 on Saturday, assuring dive coach Tom Stebbins that all four of his divers will head to the NCAA Zone E Meet in March.
“I’m pleased with the progress, but we really have to find a way to (enter) better,” Stebbins said. “For us really, to me, this signifies the beginning of our postseason.”
Both swim and dive get two weeks off before USC comes to Spieker on Feb. 13. Gallagher added that what the team needs now is rest and that they will stress the same thing in practice that they have all year.
“Every day get better, every day be swimming better, and every day find out how you can help your teammates,” she said. “And they have been doing a good job of that.”
