NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Senior Anne
Baghramian dives against Arizona State during last
Friday’s meet at the Sunset Recreation Center Pool.
By Scott Schultz
Daily Bruin Contributor This season, depth is the key for the UCLA
women’s swimming and diving team. Thanks to the return of
eight All-American swimmers, one 2000 Olympian, a deep diving squad
and a top-flight freshman class, the Bruins are in a position to
improve upon last year’s No. 8 ranking in the NCAA.
“We’re fortunate to have so many returning swimmers
with big meet experience and a great bunch of freshmen, so I
definitely think we will continue to build on last season’s
accomplishments,” said senior co-captain Brighid Dwyer. The
Bruins got off to a blazing start this season, winning their first
four dual meets of the season and their first two Pac-10 match-ups,
including a dramatic come-from-behind upset against No. 1 Arizona.
“We were good last year, but we’re better this
year,” said UCLA head coach Cyndi Gallagher. “We have
more depth. Now we have at least three good swimmers in every
event, so it’s definitely the best dual meet team, and I
think the best team I’ve ever had in a long
time.”
Sprint Freestyle This year the sprint
freestylers are led by freshman Sara Platzer, who has gotten her
Pac-10 career off to a terrific start with two individual first
place finishes in her first two conference meets. Platzer finished
12th in the 50-yard freestyle and 13th in the 100-yard freestyle at
this summer’s Olympic trials. Platzer is joined by returning
Bruins sophomore Erica Shugart and three-time All-American senior
Beth Goodwin.
Middle Distance Freestyle All-American
sophomore Erin Zehntner leads the Bruins this season in the middle
distance freestyles this year. Zehntner began the season
impressively with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle against
Arizona State. Zehntner is joined by juniors Erin Thomas and
Geraldine Schick and sophomores Jie Lee, Beth Boehm and Star
Airey.
Distance Freestyle Zehntner also leads the
distance freestyle squad, already posting first and third place
finishes in her first two Pac-10 meets. Zehntner is joined by
freshmen Lindsay Wolf and Julie Madden, as well as Boehm, Thomas ,
Lee and sophomore Courtney Mayo.
Backstroke Sophomore LeAnne Cadag leads the
backstrokers this season. She won the 100-yard backstroke against
ASU along with freshman Katie Winklehaus, who won the 200 yard back
against ASU, and Dwyer, who shaved more than two seconds off her
time in the 100-yard back last season. They’ll be joined by
All-American junior Nicole Beck and freshman Naoko Watanabe.
Breaststroke Junior All-American Lyndee
Hovsepien and junior co-captain Jen Noddle lead the breaststrokers.
Noddle won her first two 200-yard races against Pac-10 teams this
season. The juniors are joined by freshmen Brooke Winkler, Cathy
Coler and Tracy Kinsch.
Butterfly Goodwin has gotten off to an
outstanding start this season, winning both her 100-yard butterfly
races this year and already qualifying for the NCAAs, which will be
held in March. She’s joined by fellow All-American senior
Julia Voitovitsch, who swam for the German Olympic team in 1996.
Junior Katie Younglove is also off to a promising start this year
with third place finishes in the 200-yard butterfly in her first
two Pac-10 meets this year. The Bruins are extremely deep in this
event with additional butterflyers Beck, Airey and junior Janet
Worthington.
Individual Medley Stacey Kearney, Winkler, and
Noddle are having the beginnings of a great season for the Bruins
in the individual medleys. They swept ASU and took a first and
third place in the victory against Arizona.
Relays Goodwin leads the relay teams, which
also includes Dwyer, Cadag, Shugart, 2000 Olympian junior Marilyn
Chua (Malaysia), who swims the freestyle, and 1999 All-American
junior Angela Belloni. They are off to a great start this year,
winning both relays in the ASU meet and winning the 200-yard relay
against Arizona.
Diving The diving squad is also off to a great
start, with three divers, senior Anne Baghramian, freshman Michelle
Brown and sophomore Regan Gosnell, already qualified for the NCAA
Zone E championships, which will be held in March. “I’m
excited that they’re able to get it done this early in the
year against this level of competition,” said head diving
coach Tom Stebbins. “They’re really doing some great
diving right now.” This weekend the swimmers will send 20
Bruins to Evanston, Ill. for the Northwestern Invitational. The
divers will start competing at the Trojan Invitational today and
Friday at USC, and then they fly to Chicago to join the swimmers at
Northwestern.
UCLA SWIMMING AND DIVING LEADERS SOURCE: Sports
Info Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by HERNANE
TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff