Daily Bruin File Photo Sophomore Chelsea
Murray competes in the 200-meter backstroke during a meet
last season.
By Calley Prezzano
Daily Bruin Contributor
This weekend, while the UCLA community turns its focus towards
the Coliseum and downtown Los Angeles, the ninth-ranked UCLA
swimming and diving team travels to Arizona for their first Pac-10
competition of the season.
The battles begin today in Tempe, where the Bruins face the
Arizona State Sun Devils, and conclude tomorrow after the team
competes against the Wildcats at the University of Arizona.
Representing the UCLA diving squad will be juniors Heidi Prosser
and Regan Gosnell and freshman Janine Strack.
“We’re really counting on our divers,” UCLA
head coach Cyndi Gallagher said.
Diving can make or break any meet for a team. In fact, last
year, the diving points were what finally put UCLA over the edge to
beat Arizona and win the Pac-10 Championships.
Also competing in Arizona will be No. 6 USC, racing University
of Arizona Friday and ASU Saturday.
Gallagher intends to call the USC coaches sometime before
Saturday’s meet to strategically find out if Arizona will
have swimmers not competing, especially strong events, or any other
surprises. According to Gallagher, the Arizona duo will be doing
the same thing.
Last year, UCLA beat both teams in their respective dual meets.
However, the Bruins had a home pool advantage. This year, both
Arizona teams are strong and many of the events, according to
Gallagher, will be close match-ups, and could go either way.
“We are going to be competing against the nation’s
best swimmers,” sophomore Kristen Lewis said.
“We’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Arizona lost Olympian Amanda Beard, but still has depth and
versatility. The No. 5 Wildcats have senior Sarah Tolar swimming
freestyle and the individual medley, junior Beth Botsford in
backstroke, and newcomer freshman Emily Mason in fly and I.M. A
majority of Arizona’s best swimmers were finalists at
NCAAs.
No. 13 ASU will also be tough competition. Sun Devil freshman
Agnes Kovacs was gold medalist in the 200m breaststroke in both the
2000 Olympic Games and the 2001 World Championships.
All of these outstanding attributes can intimidate and put
pressure on the UCLA squad. However, the squad thinks that it is
prepared to take on such a test of confidence and ability.
“I think that when we come together and challenge
ourselves, we will perform better,” freshman Jackie Lobdell
said.