Swim and dive earns NCAA qualifications at final fall meets
The swim team traveled to the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational at the University of Texas, securing eight top-five finishes and one first-place finish. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Brent Troop
Dec. 7, 2015 11:49 a.m.
The difference between sophomore diver Maria Polyakova and second place in the 3-meter dive was relatively similar to the thousand-mile separation between the UCLA swimming and diving teams this weekend.
The UCLA diving team competed at the Jean Freeman Invitational at the University of Minnesota, where the four UCLA divers – Polyakova, junior Annika Lenz, sophomore Ciara Monahan and freshman Éloïse Bélanger – all recorded season bests and a top-three finish.
A thousand miles south, the swimmers traveled to the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational at the University of Texas, securing eight top-five finishes and one first-place finish.
“Our goal was to get a few more people to NCAAs. When you’re swimming against some of the teams and you’re really far ahead, it’s easy,” said swimming coach Cyndi Gallagher. “It’s not so easy to swim in a crowd with other fast people. You’ve got to learn how to swim ahead, behind and in the middle.”
Sophomore Katie Grover was among those who qualified for NCAAs after she narrowly edged out second and third place with a personal best 155.45 in the 200 butterfly. Grover’s 200 butterfly time was good for the team’s only first-place finish and was fourth all-time in UCLA history.
“It was a really competitive meet,” Grover said. “I had been pretty nervous, but … my goal going into finals was to not worry about all the big names in my heat and to just swim how I wanted to swim.”
The diving team also had multiple NCAA championship qualifications as Polyakova, Lenz, Monahan and Bélanger all qualified for the NCAA Zones in the 3-meter div. Polyakova once again swept the 1-meter and 3-meter dives this weekend, with Monahan placing second and third in them, respectively.
“I’m really pleased with how the meet went,” Monahan said. “I feel like I’m improving a lot but there’s always more work to be done at practice. I qualified for 3-meter which … enables me to go to Zones which is really exciting.”
The Jean Freeman and Texas Hall of Fame invitationals conclude a successful fall quarter for the swimming and diving teams. The Bruins return to competition Jan. 15 with the exception of Lenz, who will be competing at the USA Diving Winter National Championships in Indianapolis Dec. 15.
“It’s a nice halfway point (for the season),” Grover said. “To see all the hard work we’ve done pay off.”
