A swimmer can feel when they are having a fantastic race.

“I knew something special was going to happen because every time I get up there – especially for the two-back (200-yard backstroke) – I always want to do something cool for my team, and the energy was getting a little flat, so I knew I had to bring it back up for us,” said senior Rosie Murphy.

Murphy and freshman Jada Duncan were feeling it this weekend.

Both athletes set new school records over the weekend – Murphy in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:51.59 and Duncan in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 51.06.

“The first 50, it was just so smooth and easy, and it was so unexpected that when I turned for the second 50, I just knew that I was going to go all out and have whatever I had left and try and beat the girl next to me,” Duncan said. “It was so much easier than I thought it was going to be.”

UCLA swim and dive (1-3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) picked up a pair of dual meet losses to No. 3 Stanford (4-0) and No. 7 California (3-1) Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Bruins saw two school record performances and six event wins over the weekend at Spieker Aquatics Center, including two wins from senior Eden Cheng against the Golden Bears.

UCLA treated the back-to-back days of competition against two of the best teams in the country as practice for the multi-day meets coming its way during postseason, with the Big Ten championship and the NCAA championship meets. Murphy – whose record came against Cal – said she treated it like the second day of an invitational meet in the coming months.

With two swimmers performing at peak level in January, the Bruins are well set up to perform well in that postseason stretch.

“It means that we’ve got some kids that can compete for NCAA titles – that can compete for first ever swimming and diving Big Ten titles – who can compete to go be the best out there,” said coach Jordan Cordry.

And Duncan and Murphy didn’t just break their respective school records. They smashed their own previous personal bests.

Murphy had previously set the school record in the 200-yard backstroke in November, with her new time beating the previous one by .8 seconds.

And just four races later, Murphy jumped into the pool again and came close to another of her school records – landing just .29 seconds behind her program record in the 200-yard individual medley. Murphy said she pushed through fatigue in that race for a time she was happy with to end her weekend.

Murphy said she’s ready to break her record again this season, particularly with the advantage of tapering.

Duncan’s time in the 100-yard butterfly beat her previous best by .73 seconds, surprising her when she first looked at the timing screen.

“I didn’t think that that was my lane or my time, and I thought that it was wrong,” Duncan said. “But when I heard all my teammates cheering, I was so excited and honestly so shocked and so happy.”

The Bruins also picked up an event win and a pool record from sophomore Claudia Yovanovich in the 100-yard backstroke against the Cardinal.

After setting a new pool record in the lead leg of the 400-yard medley relay, Yovanovich followed it up by winning the 100-yard backstroke individual race later in the meet.

Cordry said she was proud of Yovanovich for those two great swims on the day.

“Energy was way up going into that relay,” Cordry said. “I am not shocked at all how fast they came out in that race. It came out really hot. The difference there is, you’ve got the whole team behind you – it’s the very first thing, you’re just vibrating with energy, and then it’s hard to come back it up and do it again.”