Bruins break records despite swimming, diving losses to Cardinal, Bears
Freshman swimmer Emma Schanz swept the 200-yard breast over the weekend, garnering first place against both Stanford and California. (Shelby Scoggins/Daily Bruin)
By Brent Troop
Jan. 30, 2016 4:19 p.m.
The UCLA swimming and diving team shattered multiple records in and out of the pool this weekend.
The No. 19 Bruins faced stiff competition, though, and lost to the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal and the No. 3 California Golden Bears at Spieker Aquatics Center on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
First-place finishes were few and far between for the Bruin swimmers, as freshman Emma Schanz recorded the only win against the Cardinal on the first day of competition. In the 200-yard breast, Schanz posted her first NCAA B qualifying time of the season.
“(Coach Cyndi Gallagher) talks to me a lot about staying in my own lane and not worrying about who’s besides me,” Schanz said. “Facing Stanford and Cal, there’s some really big names in there – a lot of Olympians. I knew that this weekend was going to be a challenge.”
Even without sophomore Maria Polyakova, the divers didn’t miss a beat on the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Freshman Éloïse Bélanger swept both springboard events and broke the 1-meter meet record set at last years’ competition.
Although the Bruins ultimately fell to the Cardinal 182-118, the teams combined to collect over $1,300 for the Iris-Cantor UCLA Women’s Health Center through admission fees and T-shirt sales. Each UCLA swimmer and diver also made a personal donation to the center, increasing the amount raised by the team to fight breast cancer to a record high.
On Saturday, UCLA suffered a second defeat – this time against Cal – losing 185-114. Schanz once again placed first in the 200 breast, winning the team’s only races this weekend by sweeping the event against the Bay Area schools.
Another first-place finish on the 1-meter dive by Bélanger and an unexpected fourth-place finish on the 3-meter dive from freshman diver Kat Friese helped the Bruins on the boards.
“It’s really exciting being a freshman to have a good season so far,” Friese said. “We’re right at the peak of our season right now, so it’s really about staying focused and powering through everything.”
Diving coach Tom Stebbins echoed the importance of moving forward as a team, emphasizing the need for each diver to improve on the minor kinks in their form.
“We’re in that phase of the year where you’re getting a lot of the bugs out of the way and trying to maximize your performance to prepare for the end of the season,” Stebbins said.
This weekend’s meets provided the Bruins with an early glimpse at the level of competition that they’ll be facing at this year’s Pac-12 championships.
