UCLA comes in fifth at Pac-10 Championships
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 4, 2002 9:00 p.m.
By Regina Yeh
Daily Bruin Contributor
After three days of intense competitions at the Belmont Plaza
Olympic pool in Long Beach, the UCLA swimming team came out of the
Pac-10 Championships in fifth place, losing its title of champions
to the Stanford Cardinal.
Facing familiar opponents Stanford, USC and Cal, the team
achieved many lifetime and season bests in the competition, even
though it fell short of a title.
“Overall, the coaches are really proud of us,”
freshman Jeannette Nieto said.
“We didn’t quite make where we wanted to go, which
was to match how well we did the last year, but on the whole we are
really proud of ourselves as well.”
And with the members of the team themselves wearing personalized
white caps and suited in black, the unity of the swimmers was
evidenced in their spirit and stride. The Pac-10 competitions were
spent cheering for their fellow teammates and speeding through the
water, putting everything into swimming quickly.
“Every girl gave their everything, and put down the whole
of themselves into competing and doing well,” Nieto
added.
The final scores of the competitions resulted in UCLA finishing
with 1064 points, behind Stanford, USC, Arizona and Cal. The Bruin
swimmers emphasize the mentality of doing their best without the
competitive notion of beating out the other teams.
“I think we did great, and everybody individually did well
beyond their own expectations,” sophomore Leslie Hovsepian
said, who herself achieved her lifetime best at the Pac-10
competitions.
Blue and gold Bruin fans, wedged in the stands between rooters
from Stanford and Berkeley, drowned out the cheers and the pompoms
with loud UCLA clappers in support of their swimming team.
The encouragement from UCLA supporters contributed to the
confidence of the team and the approval of their performance
despite what competition they had.
With the end of dual swimming meets, many look forward to the
NCAA Championships (March 21-23 in Austin, Tex.) to complete the
swimming season.
“We did really well, and I did well, and we had a lot of
people who have achieved the fastest they’ve ever swam at
competitions like this,” junior Erica Shugart said.
“But considering everything at the Pac-10s, the most
important thing about swimming is to have fun.”
