Swimmers improve at Arena Invitational but divers falter at Wildcat Invitational
Freshman diver Emma Ivory-Ganja placed third in platform at the Wildcat Invitational in Arizona. Competing in Long Beach, swimming earned 12 NCAA “B” times over three days.
By Taylor Aquino
Nov. 22, 2011 1:56 a.m.
Three days of sitting and waiting for a turn to compete can be testing, even for the most focused of athletes.
But after a double loss at No. 8 Arizona (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) and No. 23 Arizona State, (3-1, 1-1) the slower pace of the invitational was a reprieve from the frenzy of a dual meet as the No. 25 UCLA swimming and diving team (1-2, 0-2 Pac-12) separated this weekend for two three-day events.
The swimmers’ Arena Invitational was held in Long Beach and the divers traveled back to Arizona after last week’s double-meet to compete at the Wildcat Invitational.
The swimmers commenced their weekend with a depleted roster as several of the athletes did not plan to travel to Long Beach until Friday or Saturday.
Day one finished with a lone NCAA “B” time in the 200-meter freestyle relay for sophomores Ting Quah, Cynthia Fascella, Kathryn Murphy and Jesse Bergman. A “B” time allows swimmers the opportunity to compete in several events at the NCAA Championship if they have at least one qualifying “A” time.
Also notable was junior Andrea Reigel, who placed first in the 200-meter IM, and Quah, who topped the second consol of the 50-meter freestyle.
The second day brought a renewal of energy for the recovering team as the competition gradually elevated.
“One thing that really sparked everyone was a freshman, Noelle (Tarazona), (who) dropped like 10 seconds the second night in the 400 IM,” swim coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “And everyone was like, “˜If she can swim fast, then I can do that too.'”
Tarazona finished first in the 400-meter IM on day two of the weekend competition with a NCAA “B” time alongside her teammates to bring in five more qualifying times.
“It feels good to hear that I was the motivation for the rest of the team,” Tarazona said. “When one person swims well, it … gets the ball rolling.”
Day three of the swimming invitational brought six more NCAA “B” times in the 400-meter freestyle relay, 200-meter butterfly, 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter backstroke. The Bruins finished first in the 400m freestyle relay to end the invitational.
The weekend did not end so auspiciously for the divers.
“We weren’t horrible but we weren’t great,” diving coach Tom Stebbins said. “It was more of a test to see how tough we can be. Overall it was a good learning experience, and as we went through the weekend, we looked a little bit better.”
Freshman prodigy Emma Ivory-Ganja finished seventh on day one in the three-meter individual dive, 17th on day two in one-meter, and third in platform on day three.
Junior Maggy Boyd finished fifth overall in the consolation final on day one after obtaining a lifetime-best score in the three-meter individual dive, and ended day two at 36th.
Sophomore Haley McNamara was 22nd overall in the preliminary dive on day one, and finished 29th on day two.
