This post was updated Oct. 15 at 10:57 p.m.
The Bruins kicked off a series of five consecutive dual meets with a win over the Cougars.
No. 23 UCLA swim and dive (1-0, 1-0 Pac-12) defeated Washington State (0-1, 0-1) by a score of 153-109 on Friday. The two teams faced off against each other for the second time in a week – this time individually, but to the same result – after both programs competed in the Fresno State Invite last weekend.
The change in timing, in addition to the presence of fewer teams between the two weekends, was a key difference. In Fresno, the teams competed over two days and three sessions, while Friday’s dual meet spanned less than 90 minutes.
Coach Jordan Wolfrum said despite the differences – including traveling to Pullman, Washington, on the day of the meet – the team performed well.
“All those things considered, I thought we did a really, really nice job and even had some people swim faster than they were swimming a week ago and in an easier format,” Wolfrum said. “The times aren’t necessarily the thing that we’re looking at this meet. It’s just the racing and the competing, and that we did a really nice job with.”
Wolfrum added that the meet was good practice for the rest of the season, particularly for new additions experiencing their first dual meet.
“We definitely saw some of our first-years or maybe some of our transfers were used to swimming in a format where there are men as well, so that usually takes twice as long and slows down the pace of the meet,” Wolfrum said. “So we saw people adjusting – definitely our first-years felt that speed. It’s a different pace. It’s a different skill set.”
Across the 14 races, UCLA emerged victorious in eight, with four swimmers appearing in the top six for points earned.
Those top four – headlined by junior Ana Jih-Schiff and sophomore Rosie Murphy, who both earned over 20 points across three races they competed in – earned 74 points and were responsible for half of the Bruins’ tally.
Also among that group of four was sophomore Ashley Kolessar, who said she raced in the 1000-yard freestyle for the first time in five years and only found out she was competing in the event the day before. By the end of the 10-minute-long race, Kolessar won by over three seconds.
“The preparation was kind of last minute,” Kolessar said. “But it made it more fun and made it feel more like I’m doing it for the team.”
For junior Eva Carlson, who earned two third-place finishes, facing Washington State meant reuniting with fellow USA teammates from the World University Games this summer, Noelle Harvey and Emily Lundgren.
“It’s always fun to see friends that you have in the swimming community that you don’t get to see that often,” Carlson said. “Because we alternate years that we have dual meets against Washington (Washington State), so it was fun that this year we got to have our dual meet with them.”
Carlson’s 2:18.37 finish in the 200-yard breaststroke dropped two seconds from last week’s invitational.
Carlson said because the first half of her race felt better this weekend, she was confident in the second half.
“It kind of takes me a little bit to get into it in the season,” Carlson said. “So when I finished that, I was really happy with how I took it out, and I was just a little bit more relaxed and confident in the first half of the race, which then made the second half come a lot easier than it did last weekend.”
The Bruins will next host UC Santa Barbara for another dual meet next Friday afternoon.
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