The Bruins didn’t waste any time setting the tone for the new year.
No. 24 UCLA swim and dive (2-1) competed in a tri-meet against UC San Diego and No. 12 Wisconsin on Saturday in La Jolla. The Bruins split their luck, defeating the Tritons 177-103 and falling to the Badgers 195-86.
“I was really happy with how we performed,” said coach Jordan Cordry. “It’s a tough meet and always is.”
As the only school at the meet without a men’s team to cheer them on poolside, the Bruins made up for a lack in numbers with fervor.
“We brought the best energy on deck by far,” said freshman Josie Arbuckle. “We worked really hard to uplift and support each other.”
The competition marked UCLA’s second consecutive year attending the tri-meet in La Jolla. The Bruins have gone undefeated against the Tritons in their last ten matchups but were outperformed by the Badgers in their last meetup.
Junior Ashley Kolessar earned the Bruins’ only first-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle – a win decided in the final stretch. Wisconsin won every other race for a commanding showing from UCLA’s Big Ten foe.
The Bruins didn’t go down without a fight, though. Senior Ana Jih-Schiff placed second in the 100-yard individual medley with a 55.60 mark, touching the wall just over a tenth of a second after Wisconsin’s Olympian Phoebe Bacon.
“We were better than we were last year in a lot of areas,” Jih-Schiff said. “It shows that we are improving.”
UCLA showcased its depth throughout the day. The Bruins clinched second, third and fourth in the 50-yard backstroke, with graduate student Emma Harvey leading the way with a 25.63 time. Freshman Karolina Piechowicz and Arbuckle took home two of UCLA’s 12 individual podium finishes, earning third in the 50-yard breaststroke and 100-yard freestyle, respectively.
UCLA placed second in both relays, trailing less than a second behind Wisconsin in the 200-yard medley relay and beating UCSD by over five seconds in the 400-yard free relay.
“We’ve been working really, really hard on nailing our relay exchanges and relay starts,” Jih-Schiff said. “It makes us super excited for the Big Ten championships, as we were super close to (Wisconsin) in the relays.”
Apart from a dual meet against crosstown rival USC on Jan. 31, the competition was UCLA’s last taste of Big Ten competition until the conference championships in late February.
While UCLA added its first loss to its record on Saturday, the Bruins have more to look forward to this year.
“We already have a really great block of training behind us. The hardest part of the season is over,” Arbuckle said. “We’re moving into building on that and seeing what small details we can catch and correct before our big meets at the end of the season.”
The Bruins will next compete at Utah on Saturday, kicking off a string of dual meets that will continue through the end of January.
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