UCLA swim sees close finishes, falls to Washington State
UCLA swim came up short against Washington state, notching many second-place finishes in individual events and finishing the day, overall, 143-119. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Haylee McDonnell
Oct. 30, 2016 7:15 p.m.
A trip to Pullman, Washington, ended in defeat for the No.15 UCLA women’s swim team as it fell 143-119 to Washington State on Saturday.
In what was a battle of close finishes, the Bruins came up short in 10 out of the 14 races in Gibb Pool.
UCLA coach Cyndi Gallagher attributed the loss to a number of factors, including the team’s failure to post the top times in too many races.
“We lost every single close race,” Gallagher said. “If you don’t win the close races then you’re not going to win the meet.”
Coming in at 1:45.49, the second-place finish of UCLA’s 200-yard medley relay A Team, consisting of sophomore Emma Schanz, freshman Amy Okada, freshman Isabella Goldsmith and sophomore Caroline McTaggart, would set the tone for a series of similar race results for the remainder of the meet.
After Saturday’s matchup, Schanz became all too familiar with being outraced by a fraction of a second. Besides being a member of the medley relay A team, Schanz also posted the second-best times in two of her individual events. She came in 0.28 seconds and 0.17 seconds behind a Cougar swimmer in 100-yard breaststroke and 400-yard individual medley, respectively.
“I was very disappointed in not getting those wins just because I was so close,” Schanz said. “It’s just going to push me to try even harder next time.”
Schanz wasn’t the only Bruin to narrowly miss clinching a victory Saturday. UCLA also had close second-place finishes in five other individual races, including a loss by .10 seconds in the 500-yard freestyle.
Schanz came out on top in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 2:16.29. Other Bruin victories included redshirt senior Katy Campbell’s, who finished with a 10:11.89 in the 1000-yard freestyle, and freshman Kenisha Liu’s, who posted a 51.59 in the 100-yard freestyle.
Liu, along with McTaggart, Goldsmith and senior Savannah Steffen, carried out UCLA’s only relay win in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:26.31.
“They’re a good team, and they swam really, really well today,” Gallagher said of Washington State. “They were definitely a better team than we were today.”
[Related: UCLA swimming and diving sweeps Pink Meet events]
Other factors in Saturday’s meet included an incomplete Bruin lineup and a loud home crowd for the Cougars.
Gallagher said that some swimmers did not travel to Washington for varying reasons, including illness and injury. They were also forced to travel without their divers, who did not have a team to compete against in Pullman.
Despite the fact that Schanz, a native of Colville, Washington, had a lot of people rooting for her in the bleachers, the energy that came with the Cougars’ home field advantage may have also taken its toll on UCLA.
“There was a lot of energy,” Gallagher said. “It would have been more fun if it was energy for us.”
Until Saturday, UCLA maintained a 9-0 winning streak against WSU. Both Gallagher and Schanz, however, seemed untroubled by the history.
“As a team we try not to focus so much on as what happened in the past or expectations of us,” Schanz said. “I think that all we can really do and focus on is what’s happening in the present.”
Gallagher emphasized the trip to Washington as a chance for her team to learn from its mistakes. She said that she thinks the loss will magnify how important practice is.
“Everything we do in practice is supposed to translate into a meet,” Gallagher said. “But some of them don’t do it in practice, so they can’t expect to do it in a meet. … Sometimes failing by not winning the meet is the best thing that could happen.”
The team won’t have to wait long for a chance to implement what they learned in Washington.
The Bruins return home to swim in Spieker Aquatics Center on Friday and Saturday against Arizona and Arizona State, respectively.
