Some teams may consider two losses midway into the Pac-10 season
a disappointment For the UCLA swim and dive team, however, fourth
place in the Pac-10 doesn’t mean much, especially only two
events into the season. “Sure, we’re in fourth place,
but at this point, after two events, that doesn’t really mean
anything,” UCLA coach Cyndi Gallagher said. The finals for
the two relays were held on Wednesday night, the Bruins captured a
third place finish in the 200-meter medley (Katie Arnold, Eileen
Seissen, Kim Vandenberg and Amy Thurman), breaking a school record
with a time of 1:40.75. In the 800m freestyle relay, the Bruins
came in sixth, with Vandenberg swimming a personal best (1:47.5) in
her contributing leg of the race; while Jane Imagane, Katie Nelson
and Shannon Hackett all combined for a time of 7:15.60. “We
showed sparks of greatness,” Gallagher said.
“We’ll have to put it together for the remainder of the
competition.” During the Thursday morning preliminaries, the
two final spots were sealed by Arnold, who placed seventh in the
50m free and Vandenberg, who placed eighth. Both now will have an
opportunity to move up the rankings in the final race. Three other
swimmers made it to the consolation round: Kim Scarborough in the
200m IM, and Nelson and Hackett in the 500m free. “We had
some good swims, but we have to swim faster tonight,”
Gallagher said. “There’s a lot of room for
improvement.” The 1-meter diving preliminaries took place
Thursday afternoon and UCLA juniors Paige Thompson (seventh) and
Amanda Blong (eighth) scored high enough to make it into the
finals. Senior Janine Strack (10th) and freshmen Brittany Renfrow
(13th) and Heather Peng (20th) will try their luck again with the
3-meter competition today. “The divers are doing
great,” Gallagher said. “They’re really helping
us out.”
MEN’S TENNIS: The No. 4 UCLA men’s
tennis team (10-1) returns home to host the Bay Area schools this
weekend, as Stanford visits the Los Angeles Tennis Center today,
followed by California tomorrow. UCLA is coming off a 2-1 showing
at the National Team Indoors, where the team lost to No. 9 Virginia
in the quarterfinals before defeating Florida in the fifth-place
match. No. 18 Stanford (6-3) stumbles into this match having lost
three in a row, all at the Indoors. But that doesn’t matter
much to the Bruins. “It’s Stanford and there’s a
great tradition there, and I know they’re going to be up for
playing us,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said. Martin anticipates
No. 1 player Luben Pampoulov, who has been suffering with a pinched
nerve in his neck, to play both matches this weekend. The Bruin
coach also said that Kris Kwinta, who had been playing at No. 5 in
the singles lineup, will be moved up because of his stellar
performance at the Indoors. No. 30 Cal (4-2), meanwhile, will be at
full strength for the first time all season against the Bruins.
BASEBALL: UCLA pitcher Adam Simon has been
named to the initial watch list for the inaugural National
Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award.
The award will be given annually to the top relief pitcher in
Division I. One of 30 pitchers to be candidates for the award,
Simon is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and two saves so far this season. The
junior has held opponents to a meager .152 batting average in five
appearances this season. He has posted eight saves in 72.1 innings
pitched since 2003. Last season, Simon posted a 4.50 ERA while
totalling a 2-3 record in 40 innings pitched. He has struck out 65
batters in his career. Finalists for the award will be announced on
June 1 and the NCBWA Stopper of the Year will be named on June
8.
TRACK: The UCLA men’s and women’s
track and field teams will look to defend their MPSF championships
this weekend in Seattle.
Compiled by Bruin sports staff.