UCLA swimming and diving earn high places at out of state meets
Sophomore Eloise Belanger placed in the top three for all three events at the University of Georgia Diving Invitational. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Grant Sugimura
Dec. 4, 2016 10:20 p.m.
UCLA swim and dive went south for the weekend and returned home with a plethora of awards.
The No. 22 Bruins notched five top-five swim finishes in the Texas Invitational’s championship finals while the dive squad swept their three events at the University of Georgia Fall Invite.
Early in the tournament, UCLA had reason to celebrate. Sophomore Sandra Soe finished third in the B final of the 500-yard freestyle, but more importantly she qualified for the NCAA B with a time of 4:44.69.
Then two record-breaking times happened.
Freshman Kenisha Liu set a UCLA freshman record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:58.09, a mark which was also good enough for an NCAA B qualifying time. Then, senior Linnea Mack posted a 21.93 to place second in the championship final of the 50-yard freestyle. Not only was this time good enough to be a NCAA B qualifying time, she also broke her own Bruin record. The previous record set by Mack was 21.98.
Other swimmers who nabbed NCAA B qualifying times during the main tournament included sophomore Emma Schanz and freshman Lisa Kaunitz in the 400-yard individual medley with times of 4:17.84 and 4:18.82, respectively. Liu clocked a 1:46.76 in the 200-yard freestyle, and senior Madison White who swam a 53.81 in the 100-yard backstroke.
On the last day, redshirt senior Katy Campbell and Soe both hit NCAA B qualifying times of 16:16.41 and 16:17.58, respectively, in the 1650-yard freestyle.
By the end of the tournament, five Bruins had advanced to the championship finals with every result being an NCAA B qualifying time.
White notched time of 1:54.77 in the 200-yard backstroke while finishing fourth, and Mack finished third in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.31. Schanz and Liu finished fifth and eighth with times of 2:11.54 and 2:14.16, respectively, and junior Katie Grover came fourth in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:56.06.
For the final event of the tournament, the Bruin squad of freshman Isabella Goldsmith, Mack, Liu and White came in fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Meanwhile in Georgia, UCLA dive dominated.
The first day of the invitational was for the 3-meter event. Sophomore Eloise Belanger finished first with a score of 331.30.
In the 1-meter event, junior Maria Polyakova came in first with a 301.50, 23.75 points higher than the second-place opponent while Belanger came in third.
On the final day in Georgia, senior Annika Lenz took the top spot in the platform event with a score of 279.40. Belanger once again placed high, finishing second.
