Incoming UCLA swim and dive freshman class ranked for first time in 4 years

The Bruins have reloaded their roster.

UCLA swim and dive opened up its season with a meet at University of San Diego on Sept. 13. The meet marked the debut of 10 new Bruins – eight swimmers and a pair of divers – six of whom competed that weekend.

“I think (the freshmen) will have a lot of impact this year,” said coach Jordan Wolfrum. “Most if not all of them are at the level that they can score points at the Pac-12s, so we’re in a great spot from that aspect.”

UCLA’s incoming freshman group was ranked as the No. 8 recruiting class in the nation. This is the first year since 2015 that the Bruins have had a ranked class, which was also No. 8.

Wolfrum, UCLA’s new head coach, took over for former coach Cyndi Gallagher after her retirement this spring. Because of the timing of Wolfrum’s hiring, she said she had no chance to participate in the recruiting of this year’s freshmen, but that she was able to talk with the recruits almost immediately to alleviate any concerns they had.

“Most of this class was already committed to UCLA about eight months ago … the former staff gets full credit for this outstanding class,” Wolfrum said. “It’s a scary thing, when you’ve been planning on going to this place, and now you find out that one of the biggest pieces that you knew and loved about this place has changed. So, (the recruits) were the first group I reached out to, I made sure to connect with all of them and start building some relationships and start easing those fears about the coaching change.”

Over the last year, nine of the UCLA freshmen were named All-Americans by the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association, four won state championships, and another four won events at their section championships.

Freshman Lauryn Johnson competed at the 2019 Speedo Junior National Championships this year, recording a 2:14.28 time in the 200-yard butterfly that earned her an Olympic Trials-qualifying cut in the event.

In addition, freshmen Gabby Dang and Sophia Kosturos both came to UCLA having already recorded times in their respective strokes that are near-NCAA qualifying marks. Kosturos won three events Sept. 13 in San Diego, a team-high.

Six of the incoming freshmen hail from California, something that Wolfrum attributed both to Californian athletes gravitating toward UCLA and to the large pool of talent coming from within the state.

“The student-athletes growing up in this area understand really well the allure of UCLA … and they understand why it’s such an amazing place, so that helps us recruit in-state very easily,” Wolfrum said. “And you can’t go wrong recruiting in California because there’s such a high level of talent and it’s so deep.”

On the diving side of the pool, diving coach Tom Stebbins graduated four seniors after the 2018-2019 season and has picked up two freshmen divers to fill the gap.

Diver Hannah Butler is one of the few non-Californian freshmen, and was a New York State Champion in girls diving before coming to UCLA. The other diving recruit, Katelynn Shaheen of La Cañada Flintridge, California, is a USA Diving Junior World Championships Trials finalist and qualified for both the USA Diving Junior National Championships and USA Diving Zone F Championships this summer. The pair will be tasked with filling the shoes of recently graduated top divers Eloise Belanger and Maria Polyakova, the latter of which won the 3-meter individual NCAA championship last season.

“It’s certainly a challenge to lose a national champ … and we graduated two girls who are really hard to replace,” Wolfrum said. “But I’m beyond excited for what our very young diving team can bring to the table and what direction they can go over the next few months and next few years.”

The first time UCLA fans will get to see the new Bruins in action will be at the Blue vs. Gold Intrasquad meet Oct. 4 at Spieker Aquatics Center.