Swimmers gearing up for second half of season
Bruins continue training over break to face UCSD and Michigan in
dual meets
By Ross Bersot
The week after finals, all around school, not a creature will be
stirring, except in the pool. While most Bruins will head home for
the winter break, UCLA swimming will continue racing toward the
postseason with a full practice schedule and two dual meets.
"We’re going to try to do some racing during hard Christmas
training," head coach Cyndi Gallagher said. "(The dual meets) don’t
really mean anything."
Moderate workouts after the Speedo Cup and during finals require
that the team trains intensively during the 23-day vacation in
order to remain in top condition for the second and most important
half of the season.
"We try to get them to (swim) once a day (during finals week)
because it’s good to keep the feel of the water. They need the
break of swimming from studying," Gallagher said. "We only
(practice) five times the whole week. It’s an hour-and-a-half of
no-brainer swimming. They get in and they swim and they don’t have
to race. They don’t have to think, it’s just aerobic. I don’t
really consider it a lost week, I just consider it kind of a
transition.
"Some coaches in other places go twice a day. They don’t change
their schedules at all and I think that is a joke. (The swimmers’)
bodies need a rest because of what the stress level is during
finals week."
The first interruption in the Bruins’ rigorous training will be
the Jan. 5 meet at UC San Diego, a team which is ranked third
nationally in NCAA Division III and will provide UCLA an important
opportunity to shuffle the lineup.
"San Diego is right in the middle of our Christmas training,"
Gallagher said. "It will be good for us to remember what it’s like
to race again. We’ll have people do different events and that is
always good. Sometimes all the sprinters ever do is 50 (yards),
100, 50, 100 so it is nice to throw them into the 1,000."
Two days later, Michigan will arrive in Westwood for a showdown
at noon at the Men’s Gym pool. According to Gallagher, the
Wolverines should be the second-ranked team in the nation, and
could even occupy the top spot in the next poll.
Their roster depth has propelled them to a 3-0 dual meet record
in Big Ten Conference competition and first-place finishes at two
invitationals, the Northwestern Relays and the Southern Methodist
Classic, where UCLA finished third.
Similarities between the two programs do not end with common
competitions this season. At last year’s NCAA Championships, the
Bruins finished seventh with 191 points, one place ahead of
Michigan, which earned 173. Both schools gear their performance to
the NCAAs and usually finish in the top 10.
"I’ve got some Michigan kids, and a lot of these kids looked at
UCLA and Michigan and made their decision," Gallagher said. "I got
half of them and (Michigan head coach Jim Richardson) got the other
half. I recruit a lot against them, and Jim and I are really good
friends and great competitors. It’s a good program, a solid program
and the last two years they’ve just gotten tons of freshman
recruits coming in."
Three years ago, in the only other dual meet between the
schools, UCLA was beating Michigan, 173-125, before official
scoring was stopped at the midway point of the meet. This time
around the matchup favors the visitors, led by senior Alecia
Humphrey and sophomore Rachel Gustin. Humphrey has already
automatically qualified for the NCAAs in the 100 and 200-yard
backstroke, with times of 54.78 and 1:54.65. Gustin has done the
same in the 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley, with times
of 2:14.40 and 2:01.12.
Annette Salmeen, Jill Jenkins, Lindsay Etter, Megan Oesting and
Cindy Bertelink will have to build on their consideration
qualification marks if the Bruins are to have a chance to win.
Continued success in the relays will also be key to UCLA’s
effort.
"It will be a good meet. We will both be tired, hopefully
they’ll be sick and tired," Gallagher said. "It doesn’t really mean
anything. It doesn’t mean if we beat them, we’re going to win
NCAAs. It doesn’t mean if they beat us and kill us that they’re
going to beat us and kill us (at NCAAs) because last year I thought
they were going to beat us at NCAAs and they didn’t. They had a
great team last year, too, so you just never reallyknow."