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UCLA swim and dive ready to make a splash together in Ohio State Invitational

No. 25 UCLA swim and dive will travel east to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State Invitational. Both swimmers and divers will compete in the meet, in which eight teams will face off from Thursday to Saturday.(Liz Ketcham/Photo editor)

By Coral Smith

Nov. 20, 2019 11:55 p.m.

The Bruins will travel east for this weekend’s competition.

No. 25 UCLA swim and dive (5-0, 3-0 Pac-12) will make a trip to the Midwest for the Ohio State Invitational from Nov. 21-23. This will be the first invitational competition for the whole Bruin team this season, as the swimmers have only swum in head-to-head dual meets so far. It will also be the first competition outside the Southwest for the squad.

Both swimmers and divers will participate in the meet. This will be the first competition in almost three weeks for the swimmers, who last competed in dual meets versus Arizona and then-No. 25 Arizona State on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, respectively. The Bruins defeated the Wildcats 176-124 and narrowly edged the Sun Devils 156-142.

On the swimming side, freshman Sophia Kosturos, senior Kenisha Liu, senior Amy Okada and sophomore Claire Grover each won at least two individual events that weekend, as UCLA won 11 of its 16 events against Arizona and nine of 16 versus Arizona State.

While the UCLA divers did not compete until the Arizona dual meets, the squad has already recorded some postseason-qualifying numbers.

In her first meet competing with the team, junior Ruby Neave scored a 271.95 in the 1-meter springboard versus Arizona, automatically qualifying her for NCAA Zones in March. Neave had previously been held out of her previous two seasons because of injury. Since then, Neave has scored above the Zones minimum of 265.00 in all three of her 1-meter outings.

One week later at the Trojan Diving Invitational, Neave collected another NCAA Zones-qualifying score – this time in the 3-meter with a 295.00 in the preliminary round and a 315.90 in the final, well above the 280.00 needed to make it to the NCAA Zones meet.

Junior Alice Yanovsky also collected a NCAA Zones-qualifying score in both rounds of the invitational, scoring a 303.90 in the preliminaries and a 288.10 in the finals.

UCLA was one of only two teams, along with the host USC, to place at least one diver in the top five in each of the invitational’s three events.

The Bruins moved into the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America national rankings in its latest poll, coming in at No. 25. UCLA is one of just four Pac-12 teams that are nationally ranked, along with reigning champion of the last three seasons No. 6 Stanford, as well as No. 3 California and No. 10 USC.

Six other teams will compete with UCLA in the Ohio State Invitational, and three of those teams are ranked – No. 15 Kentucky, No. 17 Notre Dame and the host, No. 14 Ohio State. Of those six teams, only UCLA and Yale are still undefeated, despite Yale being unranked.

Day one of the Ohio State Invitational will begin at 7 a.m. on Thursday, and competition will continue through Saturday.

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Coral Smith | Sports senior staff
Smith is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the gymnastics and softball beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor for the softball, gymnastics, women's volleyball, swim & dive and rowing beats. Smith was previously a staff writer on the softball, women's volleyball, rowing and swim & dive beats.
Smith is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the gymnastics and softball beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor for the softball, gymnastics, women's volleyball, swim & dive and rowing beats. Smith was previously a staff writer on the softball, women's volleyball, rowing and swim & dive beats.
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