Friday, November 14, 1997
Squad ready make a splash at meets
SWIMMING:
Team optimistic about season with new members despite losing two
All-American playersBy Ryota Kawai
Daily Bruin Contributor
With two wins already logged, the 13th-ranked UCLA women’s
swimming and diving team heads to Arizona for a double-dual meet
with Arizona State (No. 23) and Florida (No. 14) on Friday, and
against Arizona on Saturday.
Recently beating UC Santa Barbara with a 164-94 margin, the team
returns eight All-Americans, including three-time All-American
seniors Cindy Bertelink, Lindsay Etter and Jill Jenkins.
Head coach Cyndi Gallagher is extremely optimistic toward the
outlook for the season, even though the team lost two-time
All-American junior Susan Trainer for the season because of an
irregular heartbeat. Also, sophomore Amber Wines, an All-American
last year, is out for the fall because of knee surgery.
The team heads into the weekend without its full roster to meet
formidable opposition from Arizona State, Florida and Arizona. The
Sun Devils, finishing 27th in last year’s NCAA tournament, are a
perfect 2-0 after beating both the University of Nevada at Las
Vegas (183-100) and New Mexico State (168-112).
Placing 28th last year in the NCAA tournament, the Florida
Gators are 1-1, with a win against Miami and a loss to Georgia. The
Wildcats, who are 1-0 this season with a victory over New Mexico,
finished an impressive fourth place in last year’s NCAA tournament.
Arizona boasts the 1997 NCAA 1,650-meter freestyle champion Trina
Jackson, who also won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games as a
member of Team USA’s record setting 800m freestyle relay squad.
Despite injuries to key members, Gallagher says this year’s
squad is a "better NCAA team than last year." She believes that
with a full roster, the team will finish in the top 10 at the NCAA
tournament.
Gallagher is justified in her prediction, with Etter and
sophomore Keiko Price on the team. This past summer, Price captured
a gold medal as a member of Team USA’s 400m freestyle team at the
World University Games in Sicily, Italy. Etter brought home silver
after competing on the USA 400m medley relay squad. The experience
these two swimmers gained will be beneficial to the team,
especially with the addition of seven freshmen and one
transfer.
Among the incoming members, freshmen Lauren Westberg, Beth
Goodwin and Heather DeFelice will probably see significant pool
time because of injuries to other swimmers. Rebecca Thompson, a
transfer student from the University of Hawaii, will have an
immediate impact as she is the all-time fastest rainbow in the 100m
and 200m freestyles. Gallagher believes that Thompson will be an
All-American in her first year as a Bruin.