Thursday, November 20, 1997
Nebraska meet promises early glimpse of competition
PREVIEW: Team focuses on postseason play, opts not to send full
contingent to USC
By David Arnold
Daily Bruin Contributor
This is rivalry week for many teams throughout the nation, but
for UCLA women’s swimming and diving, the real competition will
take place in Nebraska at the Husker Shootout/Sprint Classic.
Although some of the divers will compete in the Trojan Diving
Invitational at USC, the Husker Shootout provides a better gauge
for the competition that UCLA will need to beat in the
championships in April.
It’s an invitational that will boast some of the best swimming
programs in the country, including Illinois and top 10 teams,
Nebraska and Southern Methodist.
The meet is a good opportunity to get some big-game practice in
against high-quality programs in preparation for the Pac-10 and
NCAA Championships.
"(The Invitational is) a top meet to be invited to, which will
be full of pretty unique competition," UCLA head diving coach Andy
Kwan said. "It should be kind of fun."
Fun because the varsity swimming team returns 25 letter winners
of last year’s 26, and seven of last year’s eight
All-Americans.
Last year’s team placed fifth in the Pac-10 and 14th in the
NCAA. This year’s team remains confident about its postseason
prospects, despite a 2-3 record thus far, with wins against UC
Santa Barbara and San Diego and losses to Arizona, Arizona State
and Florida.
"Our whole goal for the year is our performance at the Pac-10
meet," said head coach Cyndi Gallagher. "How we do along the way
doesn’t matter."
The diving team will only be taking its top two athletes to
Nebraska – seniors Rose Huelskamp and Tracy Wilcox. Both have
already qualified for the NCAA Championships in the one and
three-meter dives by surpassing marks of 245 and 255 in their first
meet.
Kwan looks forward to a meet that is "run more together," with
the swimmers and the divers competing simultaneously, as opposed to
the divers playing in another pool and sending the results on to be
combined with the swimmers.
For the swimmers, some notable performers include three-time
All-Americans Cindy Bertelink, Jill Jenkins, World University Games
silver medalist Lindsey Etter and gold medalist Keiko Price.
Senior breaststroker Etter won her medal this summer as a member
of the U.S. 400-meter medley relay. Sophomore sprint freestyler
Price won her gold as a member of the U.S. 400 freestyle relay
team.
Gallagher explains that superstars won’t win a meet – a team
will.
"It’s the whole team effort that counts," she said. "(Our) team
gets better every week and is doing a really good job and getting
into great shape."
Gallagher also looks to her commanding senior leadership and
returning experience to make the difference come crunch time and
play-offs.
For the Bruins, the invitational will provide practice against
top-notch competition, and give some Bruins a chance to seal NCAA
spots. Either way, they’ve got something to fight for.