UCLA swimming and diving finishes 17th at NCAA championships

No UCLA record was safe when Linnea Mack jumped into the pool this year. The junior proved that one last time this season at the NCAA swimming and diving championships a week ago.

Mack conquered two more records, playing an integral role in leading the swimming and diving team to a 17th place finish at the championships.

One of the six swimmers the Bruins sent to Atlanta to represent UCLA at the championships, Mack rose to the occasion. The upperclassman competed in six events over the course of the meet, standing out in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke.

“Linnea’s goal this year was to score individually at nationals, which she obviously did,” said coach Cyndi Gallagher. “She has always been good in season, but never had been to put it altogether when the perceived pressure increased (in postseason place). She worked really, really hard at the mental conditioning everyday and that ultimately proved to be the difference.”

In the 50-meter free, she was able to shave off five-hundredths of a second off the school record that she already held, dating back to last year’s AT&T Winter Nationals. Mack’s initial mark of 22.08 seconds was enough to qualify her for the consolation finals and, once there, she posted 21.98 for an 11th place finish.

Her bread-and-butter event this season, however, has been the 100-meter backstroke. For the third time this season alone, Mack broke the school record. This time, she did so by cutting nearly three-fourths of a second off her time at the Pac-12 championships. Her time of 51.24 was the second fastest of the consolation final which placed her 10th overall in the entire field.

“In the period between Pac-12s and NCAAs, there is a much smaller group of swimmers which allows Cyndi to work with us more individually to really fine tune all the little details,” Mack said. “Making those little adjustments here and there as we tune up for two weeks really paid off for me.”

Three Bruin divers traveled east and each member of the trio had significant contributions.

UCLA’s young duo of freshman Eloise Belanger and sophomore Maria Polyakova made their presence known from day one, as both qualified for the 1-meter platform finals.

Once there, each competitor outperformed her respective preliminary score en route to a second and fifth place finish, respectively. With a score of 336, Belanger shattered the school record which had had stood for nearly nine years.

“Eloise has been moving and working toward personal bests all year,” said coach Tom Stebbins. “The fact that she excelled at the time that she did was not that surprising to me.”

Polyakova and Belanger also finished in the top 10 in the 3-meter. Polyakova’s score of 381.95 was a season best and placed her just outside the podium with a fourth place finish, while Belanger’s season-best score of 340.75 was good for 10th place.

“For Maria, a lot of her struggles on 3-meter were born out of her disappointment about her performance in the Russian National competition,” Stebbins said. “But, as time wore on, we saw things turn for her and she started to look incredibly, incredibly sharp, which was on display at the zones and the NCAAs.”

The final diving event was not as fruitful for UCLA. None of the Bruins qualified for the championship, but Belanger registered a 15th place finish and junior Annika Lenz followed two spots behind.

The divers will now rest before Stebbins gets them back in the pool as the three Bruin divers will begin preparations to hopefully compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

“The girls get a much-deserved break right now so they can physically and mentally recharge themselves a little,” Stebbins said. “My challenge now is going to be assessing them when we return and then trying to figure out what the best plan is going to be for each of them moving forward.”