Swimming dominates A3 Performance Invitational with first-place finish
UCLA swimming took first place at the A3 Performance Invitational.The Bruins scored 1400.5 overall and defeated second-place San Diego State by 262 points. (Rohan Kumar/Daily Bruin)
By Gwyneth Teo
Nov. 20, 2016 10:46 p.m.
For junior swimmer Katie Grover, the A3 Performance Invitational was both a personal and a team victory.
“I have been dealing with some injury problems, so I was happy that I was actually able to relieve it all, and it went pretty well this couple of swims,” Grover said.
Grover faced several left kneecap subluxations in the past year, including one the week before the meet, but went on to finish second in the 200-yard butterfly behind freshman Amy Okada and help the 200-yard medley relay team win.
The UCLA swim team similarly rose above the competition from 10 other schools to win the meet, which took place in Monterey Park, California, from Thursday to Saturday. The Bruins finished with 1400.5 points, a comfortable 262-point lead over second-place San Diego State University.
“It’s the biggest meet of the fall quarter, so there was a lot of team spirit, lots of cheering,” Grover said. “It was a really good meet to show how much we’ve come together as a team this year.”
In the 1,650-yard freestyle, sophomore Sandra Soe finished first in a one-two-three finish ahead of her teammates redshirt senior Katy Campbell and junior Margaux Verger Gourson with a time of 16 minutes, 21.61 seconds.
Soe attributed her win to her mental toughness.
“It’s a long race. If you start to doubt yourself, then it’s just going to be 66 laps of not wanting to do it, whereas if you’re in the right mindset it’s a lot easier,” Soe said.
Coach Cyndi Gallagher was particularly impressed with the trio’s performance.
“I was really happy with the distance swimmers. … They swam like they trained,” Gallagher said. “This time Sandra came up – sometimes Katy swims faster, sometimes Margaux swims faster. It’s fun to watch them compete, so that was a highlight for me.”
Soe says that the competition among the three is a healthy one.
“I’m really happy with the 1650 that we did. It’s really fun, I get to race my teammates and see all the work we put in pay off,” Soe said. “It’s fun to be on the same level, race each other in practice and do the same thing in the meet and swim really well.”
UCLA also swept four out of the five relay races. Senior swimmer Linnea Mack, a key member of all four relay teams, believed it was team spirit that helped them to attain this result.
“For relays, when you dive in you’re not just swimming for yourself, you’re swimming for three people behind the blocks,” Mack said. “We had the whole team beside the pool, and you hear them all cheering before you get on the blocks and everyone dives in and wants to do well for the team.”
Gallagher mentioned that she is still trying to figure out the lineup for the relay teams and that it is very competitive because it could be anybody.
“You have to swim your own individual races, and at the end of the meet you have to be ready to swim another race,” Gallagher said. “It might not be the A relay, it may be the B relay, but we’re still looking at that to see who gets fired up for that, who finishes all the way through and who doesn’t lose focus for three days.”
Gallagher added that having a big team meet like this really helped everyone get together.
“It was a really positive meet, even if people didn’t swim fast or swim what they wanted to. Everyone stayed really positive and understands that this is just one step in the journey,” Gallagher said.
Next up, the UCLA swim team travels to Austin, Texas, to compete at the Texas Invitational, which will be held from Dec. 1 to Dec. 3.
