UCLA swim and dive to take on Trojans
Sophomore Bianca Casciari and the Bruins will face USC Saturday at noon at Spieker Aquatics Center. Coach Cyndi Gallagher said she hopes to win a relay event.
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 11, 2010 9:32 p.m.
You don’t have to look any further than the swim caps at practice to know what’s on every swimmer’s mind this week.
“Beat ‘SC.”
True blue and bright gold, 27 swimmers strong.
Rivalry weekend will not be staged on only the hardwood, as the UCLA swim and dive team welcomes the No. 9 Trojans to the Spieker Aquatics Center Saturday for the final dual meet of the year for both teams.
The Bruins have not beaten USC since 2007, when UCLA went to USC’s McDonald’s Swim Stadium and pulled out a thrilling four-point victory in the last race of the meet. Since then, the Bruins have dropped two close decisions; 158-142 in 2008 and 155-145 last year.
This year, a lot will be different for swim coach Cyndi Gallagher’s young team. Only three seniors remain from the 2007 team that won at USC, and 11 freshmen have never experienced the rivalry Gallagher described as “extreme.”
“It’s awesome for us to be able to swim against them. Last year, there was a point in the meet where we could have beat them,” Gallagher said. “They’re better from last year, and we’re better from last year. Having it in our pool at Spieker is awesome. It’s going to be an awesome competition, win or lose.”
“I mean, it’s ‘SC. We all hate ‘SC,” junior Lauren Hall said. “I think we kind of hype it up a little bit.”
Hall, junior Brittany Beauchan and sophomore Bianca Casciari have led the way this year with strong NCAA B qualifying standards. Achieving a B standard means a swimmer will be considered for invitation to the NCAA Championships in March, while an A standard gives an automatic invitation. No Bruin has posted an A mark this year. However, with just the Pac-10 championships between this weekend and NCAAs, it appears as though Hall (400-meter individual medley), Beauchan (100- and 200-meter breaststroke) and Casciari (100- and 200-meter butterfly stroke) will be able to secure spots.
Hall said she can lower her school-record time of 4:11.12 in the 400 IM to the A standard of 4:07.33, even against the likes of USC’s Katinka Hosszu and Lyndsay DePaul.
“I want to get to the A cut, that’s my big goal,” Hall said. “I think I can if I get my IM together well.”
The diving team is more than familiar with the challenge the USC presents. The teams faced off this year at the Trojan Diving Invitational in November and the Bruin Diving Invitational in early January. USC is led by Victoria Ishimatsu, the Pac-10 3-meter springboard champion in 2009, and Ariel Rittenhouse, a synchronized springboard diving Olympian for the U.S. in 2008 at Beijing.
“This really for us marks the beginning of our postseason,” dive coach Tom Stebbins said. “It’s the first step in terms of kind of solidifying your role within our program and how you’re going to stack up against the rest of the conference.”
Gallagher mentioned the goals for her team are the same as always: Put up season-best times, and try to swim NCAA cuts. But she also threw in one more for this week.
“I’d like to win a relay,” she said.
UCLA will have to do that without sophomore Annie Stefanec this weekend. Stefanec, the anchor leg in the 200-meter medley relay and the third sprinter in the 400-meter free relay against Cal, suffered a hairline fracture in her back during a weight lifting accident earlier last week.
“(Stefanec)’s probably, besides Brittany (Beauchan), the one that’s been on fire (this year),” Gallagher said. “But you know what, somebody else will step up.”
