This post was updated Feb. 20 at 12:32 a.m.

A moment the Bruins have waited for more than two years has arrived.

Years removed from the university’s decision to depart the Pac-12, No. 23 UCLA swim and dive (3-5) will travel to Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday for its first-ever Big Ten championships. The squad will face off against six nationally ranked opponents: No. 7 Indiana, No. 10 Michigan, No. 12 USC, No. 13 Wisconsin, No. 14 Ohio State and No. 24 Minnesota.

“We already raced in Ohio in the fall, so we kind of have a sense of what it’s going to be like and what to expect,” said senior Ana Jih-Schiff. “We’re very prepared, and all we need to do is stay focused on what we can control as a team, and then I’m sure the results will come.”

UCLA fell in all but two duels this season, including a pair of conference losses against then-No. 12 Wisconsin and then-No. 14 USC. The Bruins posted their two lowest scores of the campaign in those matchups with 86 and 85 points, respectively.

Despite the Bruins’ defeat to the Trojans last week, freshman Karolina Piechowicz put up a 59.28 mark to break the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke – marking the second-fastest time in the Big Ten this season. Meanwhile, Jih-Schiff owns the conference’s fourth-fastest time at 54.97 seconds.

Jih-Schiff could also be a threat in the 200-yard breaststroke, boasting a 2:08.23 personal-best that ranks No. 3 in the Big Ten. The Danville, California, local has been a regular in the Bruins’ relays this season and helped break the school record in the 200-yard medley relay in January alongside junior Fay Lustria, senior Eva Carlson and graduate student Emma Harvey.

“There’s a pretty steady group of eight to 12 girls who hold down the fort for the A and B medley relay,” said coach Jordan Cordry. “Our championship meets always start with that, so to have that consistency and confidence coming from that group – that’s big, and it always sets our team up well.”

2024 Olympians redshirt junior Gizem Guvenc and Harvey will also compete at the team’s inaugural conference championship. The former earned team-best times in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle this year, notching 48.45 and 1:45.30 marks.

Harvey has been the Bruins’ leading backstroker this season, posting the No. 10 mark in the Big Ten in the 100-yard backstroke against California on Jan. 18. Harvey is ranked No. 3 in the conference in the 100-yard butterfly, posting a 51.89 mark at the Ohio State Invitational.

“When it comes to conference (championships) and NCs (national championships), it’s really just about beating as many people as possible,” Harvey said. “Most of the work has already been done, so it’s just about getting our minds right and getting ready to beat as many people as we can.”

At last year’s Pac-12 championships, UCLA ended its 96-year legacy in the conference by placing fourth overall for the second consecutive season. At the meet, senior Paige MacEachern finished second in the 400-yard individual medley with a 4:03.47 tally, marking the second year in a row that she broke the event’s school record at the conference championships.

This year, MacEachern owns a season-best 4:09.31 time in the event, nearly six seconds slower than her personal-best. The time still ranks No. 6 in the conference, though if she is able to repeat the performance she had at the 2024 Pac-12 championship, she would own this year’s fastest in the Big Ten by more than four seconds.

While UCLA isn’t favored to clinch the title based on national rankings, glory for the squad may not be defined by victories – but rather by the wins it can garner against nationally ranked sharks.

“We talked about how we’re going to be in a position where we’re going to fighting for a sixth-place finish at Big Tens,” Jih-Schiff said. “We’re going to have to steal some spots that we were not previously seeded to have. So in order to do that, we’re going to have to have really strong finishes.”

Action will kick off at 2 p.m. in Columbus.