Thursday, March 28

UCLA swim and dive to kick off postseason at Pac-12 championship in Washington


No. 24 UCLA swim and dive will travel to Federal Way, Washington, to compete in the Pac-12 championship from Wednesday through Saturday. The Bruins will face the only three teams they've lost to this season in No. 1 Stanford, No. 4 California and No. 8 USC. (Andy Bao/Daily Bruin)


Swim and Dive


Pac-12 championship
Wednesday-Saturday

Federal Way, Washington
Pac-12 Networks

The Bruins will begin the postseason by facing off against all of their rivals once again.

No. 24 UCLA swim and dive (7-3, 4-3 Pac-12) will travel to the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington, for the Pac-12 championship this week. The meet will run Wednesday through Saturday, and both the Bruins’ swimmers and divers will compete.

UCLA entered the 2019-2020 season with a new coach after former head coach Cyndi Gallagher retired at the end of the Bruins’ previous year. Coach Jordan Wolfrum led UCLA to a 7-0 start to the season, including Pac-12 wins versus Utah, Arizona, No. 17 Arizona State and Washington State.

Since then, the Bruins have gone 0-3 in their most recent dual meets, having faced the top three teams in the Pac-12 and lost to them all. No. 4 California and No. 1 Stanford visited Spieker Aquatics Center on consecutive days and won a combined 28 of the 32 total events versus UCLA that weekend.

Going into this year’s championship, the Bruin diving squad is led by junior Ruby Neave – who will be the top seed in the 1-meter springboard – followed by freshman Hannah Butler and junior Alice Yanovsky at the sixth and eighth seeds, respectively. Yanovsky is also UCLA’s top diver in the 3-meter, seeding No. 5 in the event.

On the swimming side, sophomore Claire Grover is the No. 2 seed in the 50-yard freestyle, one year out of finishing the race in third place at the 2019 championship.

In addition, multiple seniors will be making their last trip to the Pac-12 championship, including Amy Okada, who is seeded No. 5 in the 100-yard backstroke and No. 6 in the 200-yard butterfly. Senior Kenisha Liu will also be going into the 200-yard individual medley as the No. 18 seed in her last trip to Washington.

Following the Pac-12 championship, UCLA swimmers are likely to make an appearance at the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America National Invitational, while multiple Bruin divers will compete in the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships.

To wrap up the season, any qualifying athletes will travel to Athens, Georgia, for the NCAA championship, in which UCLA finished 17th last season.

Sports senior staff

Smith is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the gymnastics and softball beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor for the softball, gymnastics, women's volleyball, swim & dive and rowing beats. Smith was previously a staff writer on the softball, women's volleyball, rowing and swim & dive beats.


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