Swim and dive prepares to host dual meet at home against UC San Diego
UCLA swim and dive senior swimmer Emily Lo rests her chin on the pool deck while in the water. Lo recorded her first collegiate win in a double dual meet against UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego, the latter of which the Bruins will face in a meet Saturday. (Sakshi Joglekar/Assistant Photo editor)
By Sabrina Baker
Jan. 8, 2022 8:51 a.m.
The Bruins will compete at home for the first time in over two months.
After traveling to Las Vegas for the UNLV Invitational in December and going home for winter break, UCLA swim and dive (2-2, 1-2 Pac-12) will host UC San Diego at Spieker Aquatics Center on Saturday. The dual meet will be the Bruins’ first meet at home since Oct. 30.
Although UCLA has been away from competing at Spieker for more than two months, junior swimmer Lauryn Johnson said the swimmers are looking forward to having meets at home, especially after intense winter training.
“We did a few team bonding exercises over winter training, and we worked a lot on our confidence,” Johnson said. “It would be really nice to see the team come together and have a new form of confidence.”
Senior swimmer Emily Lo, who recorded her first collegiate win in a double dual meet against UCSD and UC Santa Barbara in 2019, said cohesion and support within the team will be important heading into the end of the dual meet season.
“I want to make sure that everyone is having fun since this is one of the last meets in the season, dual meet wise,” Lo said. “It will be really good competition and practice for these upcoming dual meets.”
The Bruins are 2-0 all-time against the Tritons with their last win against UCSD coming in 2020. Despite UCLA’s undefeated record against its upcoming opponent, coach Jordan Wolfrum said she believes UCSD is a growing program.
“They always give us some really good racing,” Wolfrum said. “We tend to have a little more depth than they do. I know that they are going to bring strong competition. We are ready for that. My hope is that we can be dominant.”
The meet will lead into the Bruin Diving Invitational, followed by a stretch of home Pac-12 dual meets and eventually the postseason. Johnson said this means working on her technique in practice and improving on events such as the 200-yard freestyle.
“I have specifically been working on my breathing pattern and my flip turns in practice,” Johnson said. “Getting to nail those in my 200 free and testing out where my sweet spot is – which I think is my 200 free – I am super excited to race it.”
At the team level, Lo said it is important to use practices and this meet to build endurance, especially coming off of winter break.
“We are focusing a lot more on speed work now,” Lo said. “We are doing a lot more pace stuff. A lot of sprinting is going on.”
Saturday’s meet will be UCLA’s first competition since its first-place finish at the UNLV Invitational. Wolfrum said the invitational was a confidence builder heading into the rest of the season.
“We got to see a lot of great swimming: some season-best times, some lifetime best times,” Wolfrum said. “We are feeling really good about the work that we’ve done and what we’ve got left in the tank this season.”
The meet will start at 12:00 pm at Spieker Aquatics Center on Saturday.
