The first name that is usually associated with UCLA swimming is
All-American senior Kim Vandenberg. At Saturday’s meet
against the Pacific Tigers, where the No. 7 Bruins won 147-109, the
result was no different as Vandenberg led the Bruins with three
victories in the 200-meter butterfly, 100-meter freestyle and
100-meter butterfly. But it was not just her performance that
pleasantly surprised Bruin coach Cyndi Gallagher. “Many of
the kids stepped up and made a breakthrough,” Gallagher said,
“Now I know that I don’t have to always count on Kim
(Vandenberg) and Katie Arnold.” The notable performers
besides Vandenberg were junior Jane Imagane, who swam an impressive
10:01 1000-meter freestyle and junior Amy Thurman, who swam a quick
23.64 50-meter freestyle. The juniors recorded season bests in both
events and were part of a Bruin squad that had 11 overall event
winners. Other outstanding deliveries were made by freshman
Madeleine Stanton, who swam a 2:04.55 200-meter backstroke, junior
Courtney Iversen, who swam a 2:04.89 200-meter backstroke, and
sophomore Chiemi Yamamoto, who swam a 2:19.81 200-meter
breaststroke and a 4:18.95 400-meter individual medley. Junior
Katie Nelson, who was the Bruins’ most improved player last
season, also held to her All-American standard, placing first in
the 200-meter freestyle with 1:49.61 and first in the 500-meter
freestyle with 4:52.22. “I placed Katie in a different event
and she did a great job of racing,” Gallagher said, “It
was inspiring just to watch her race.” Although the Bruins
did an outstanding job of competing, Gallagher admits that the team
is not very healthy. The flu has plagued several teammates,
hindering them from coming to practice. Gallagher, however,
contends that this is just a temporary setback and “nothing a
couple more hours of sleep won’t fix.” Saturday’s
meet against Pacific also marked the return of former Bruin
assistant coach Greg Meehan, who left the Bruins in 2005 after four
years with the program. He is now the Pacific coach. During his
time with the Bruins, Meehan specialized in working with the Bruin
IM and distance swimmers, and helped the Bruins reach their seventh
place finish in the NCAA swimming championships in 2004.
DIVING: The No. 7 UCLA divers were defeated 39-18 in a dual meet
against Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana on Saturday.
Although the Bruins lost, UCLA diving coach Tom Stebbins still
considered the meet against the Hoosiers to be successful, as every
diver made their NCAA Zone qualifying scores. Every Bruin
competitor not only achieved qualifying scores for the NCAA meet,
but each also posted season-best point totals for their events. On
the platform, Tess Schofield placed fourth with 244.875 points
while Brittany Hill placed fifth with 232.45 points, Sara Clark
finished seventh (215.895). Marisa Samaniego led the Bruins on the
1-meter springboard, placing second with an NCAA Zone qualifying
mark of 295.50 points. Paige Thompson finished third with 289.95
points while Clark finished fourth with 283.725 points. Schofield
placed ninth (247.50) followed by Hill who placed 10th (237.825).
Overall, Stebbins is pleased with the progress the team is making
so far. “We’re in line where we need to be,”
Stebbins said, “We just have to keep getting better.”
With the next meet less than two weeks away, against Stanford on
Friday, Jan. 27, Stebbins is working hard to boost something the
girls have been underestimating themselves of since the beginning
of the season ““ self-confidence. He asserts that the girls
need to be willing to go into battle with the mentality that they
know they are good enough to win. “They need to get better at
believing that we are a good enough group,” said Stebbins,
“People should feel that they can win. If you think that you
can’t win, then you probably can’t.”