Bruin Swim & Dive Hits the Pool Friday
October 14, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The 2015-2016 swimming and diving season gets underway on Friday when the Bruins compete in the 22nd annual SMU Classic. UCLA also heads to San Diego this weekend to take on UC San Diego on Saturday.
The Bruins return 26 letter winners from last year's team, which won seven dual meets and finished fifth at the Pac-12 Championships and 23rd at the NCAA Championships. UCLA brings back five swimmers and divers who earned CSCAA All-America accolades last season. Last year's Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year Maria Polyakova earned first-team honors, while Katie Grover, Annika Lenz, Linnea Mack, and Madison White received honorable mention nods.
Mack begins her junior season owning UCLA records in three categories—50 Freestyle, 100 Free, and 100 Backstroke. She is also part of the school-best 400 Medley, 200 Free, and 400 Free Relay squads. In the 200 Medley Relay at last year's Pac-12 Championships, Mack's 50 Freestyle split of 21.60 was the fastest relay split in school history. Mack also ranks fourth all-time at UCLA in the 100 Butterfly.
On the boards, Lenz and Polyakova return after a prolific post-season. Lenz posted career-bests in the 1-meter and platform at the 2015 NCAA Zone E Diving Championships and the 2015 Pac-12 Championships, respectively. She shattered the UCLA school record in the platform final at the latter event with a five-dive total of 323.15 to finish third. Polyakova also owns a school record after posting a 392.00 in the NCAA Championship final last season.
The incoming Bruin class consists of 10 promising freshmen—six swimmers and four divers.
The SMU Classic will begin at 6:30 CT/4:30 p.m. PT on Friday, Oct. 16, and continue through Saturday evening. The two-day event will take place at SMU's home facility, AR Barr Pool, in Lewisville, Texas.
Bruins competing at the SMU Classic include: Maria Polyakova, Katie Grover, Katie Kinnear, Linnea Mack, Caroline McTaggart, Mary Pelton, Emma Schanz, Sandra Soe, and Madison White.
The rest of the Bruin squad will compete in San Diego, with the exception of Lenz, Éloïse Bélanger, Sarah Kaunitz, Jax Shoults, and Hannah Grubbs.
