UCLA swim and dive earns top finishes in every event against UC San Diego
UCLA swim and dive junior diver Hannah Butler dives into the water. Butler recorded two career-high event scores in the Bruins’ dual meet against UC San Diego on Saturday. (Michael Vigman/Daily Bruin)
Swim and Dive
| UC San Diego | 119 |
| UCLA | 165 |
By Garrison Hallum
Jan. 10, 2022 12:06 a.m.
The Bruins started out the new year with a win.
UCLA swim and dive (3-2, 1-2 Pac-12) finished its first meet of 2022 with a 165-119 victory against UC San Diego (3-1, 2-0 MPSF) at Spieker Aquatics Center on Saturday. The Bruins earned first-place finishes in every event for both swimming and diving.
Coach Jordan Wolfrum said her team performed well despite ongoing hardships, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was pretty excited for our team; we had a lot of good racing,” Wolfrum said. “It’s a tough chunk of time. We certainly have some people out sick and going through what everybody is going through, but the women who were ready to race did a great job.”
Competing in the Bruins’ first diving dual meet at home this season, junior diver Hannah Butler recorded a first-place finish in both diving events of the day, earning the top spot in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions.
Butler, who saw several personal-best finishes in the meet, said she was proud of her and her team’s progress this year.
“I’m really happy with my performance,” Butler said. “I was able to get personal-best scores, which is always a good landmark to know how your progress is going. It was really fun to watch everyone continue to improve as the weeks go by of the season.”
Just as UCLA finished on top in diving, the Bruin swim team placed first in every event against the Tritons. Freshman swimmer Paige MacEachern recorded first-place finishes in both the 200-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle.
While MacEachern did not record any personal-best times, she said she felt the team’s performance was a great way to commence the 2022 season.
“We just came back from winter break, so we are all just getting back at it,” MacEachern said. “For only being back for four or five days, we all did pretty well.”
The meet started with the 200-yard medley relay, an event that UCSD won in its last meeting with UCLA in 2020. Wolfrum said one of the highlights of the meet was taking a win in the medley.
“Two years ago we were down at UC San Diego for this meet at their home pool, and they whooped us in the 200 medley, which is the first race out of the gate,” Wolfrum said. “I challenged our team to defend our honor in that race, and they absolutely did.”
The Bruins will next take to the pool Friday for the Bruin Diving Invitational.
