UCLA SPORTS INFO Senior Beth Goodwin and
the rest of the UCLA women’s swimming team will compete in a dual
meet against UCSB tomorrow.
By Amanda Fletcher and Pauline
Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The women’s swim team kicks off the 1999-2000 season this
Friday with a dual meet against UC Santa Barbara at the Men’s
Gym pool.
“It’s always a good meet for us,” UCLA head
coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “They don’t necessarily
have the depth that we do, but they always give us good
races.”
The Bruins should be better than the team that finished eighth
in last year’s NCAA Championships.
“We’re definitely better this year than we were last
year,” Gallagher said.
They have a stellar freshman class, as well as several returning
swimmers who gained substantial experience from training for and
competing at Olympic Trials this summer.
Some of the key returners include eight All-Americans: Nicole
Beck, LeAnne Cadag, Beth Goodwin, Lyndee Hovsepian, Julia
Voitovitsch, Katie Younglove, Erin Zehntner and team captain
Brighid Dwyer.
At Olympic Trials, Goodwin finished 12th in the 100-meter fly,
while also racing in the 200m fly and 50m free. Beck placed 14th
overall in the 100m fly and was 20th in the 100m fly.
Jen Noddle placed fourth at the Canadian nationals in the 100m
breast and was sixth in the 200m breast. Food poisoning, however,
took her out of the Canadian Olympic trials. Voitovitsch raced in
the 100m fly at Germany’s Olympic trials despite having a
broken rib.
Some of the top freshmen include Sara Platzer, Naoko Watanabe,
Brooke Winkler, Cathy Coler and Aphrodite Daphnis.
Aside from the intersquad meet, this will be the first time the
freshmen will enter the pool as Bruins.
“I’m excited because I’m a part of this team
but I’m nervous because it’s the first meet and I
don’t really know what to expect,” Watanabe said.
“It’s a good time to see what the freshmen can
do,” Gallagher said of the upcoming meet.
The Bruins lost Keiko Price, who held school titles in five
events, but there is one freshman who may be able to fill her shoes
““ Sara Platzer.
“She can come in and pick it up in terms of time,”
teammate Emily Melina said. “She did well at the Olympic
Trials and is really good in sprints. We’ll look to her to
see what she can do to fill in for Keiko in the
freestyle.”
At Olympic Trials, Platzer placed 12th and 13th in her
events.
Though UCSB won’t be the toughest opponent, the Bruins are
looking forward to some real competition, other than
themselves.
“It’ll be a good opportunity to see our team compete
as a team. We’ve trained really hard for a month,”
Gallagher said.
Reflecting on how good UCSB is, Watanabe just smiled and said,
“Well, I didn’t choose them.”
. . .
The diving team will also begin competition on Friday. Over the
summer, Anne Baghramian placed 12th on the one-meter at the Senior
Zone E Meet. Regan Gosnell finished 27th at the senior national
meet in the 10-meter platform and teamed up with Baghramian to
finish sixth in the three-meter synchronized diving competition at
nationals.