UCLA Swimming and Diving Hits the Road
December 02, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The 19th-ranked UCLA swimming and diving team continues invitational action this week as the swimmers head to Austin, Texas, for the Texas Invitational, while the divers travel to Minneapolis, Minn., for the Jean K. Freeman Invitational.
Glad to be in Austin and looking forward to some fast swimming! @UCLASwimAndDive pic.twitter.com/dKwGhRTITk
— Cyndi Gallagher (@Gobruins27) December 2, 2015
The Texas Invitational will take place Dec. 2-5 at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Joining UCLA in Austin are No. 20 Arizona, No. 18 Wisconsin, No. 16 Southern California, BYU, Harvard, Oklahoma Baptist, and host No. 6 Texas. Thursday through Saturday, the morning preliminaries start at 7 a.m. PT, with the evening finals commencing at 4 p.m. PT.
Action in Austin begins on Wednesday at 4 p.m. PT with the 800 Freestyle Relay. UCLA has three entries in the race; two are seeded in the top 10.
Thursday's events include a pair of relays—200 Free and 400 Medley—and three individual events. The relays will bookend the 500 Free, 200 Individual Medley, and 50 Free. Sandra Soe, Michaela Merlihan, and Hayden Walker will compete in the 500 Free. Last time out, Soe and Walker went 4, 5 in the championship final at the A3 Performance Invite. Mary Pelton will join Arlyn Upshaw, Marie-Pierre Delisle, and Elena Escalas for the 200 IM, with 10 Bruins taking the pool for the 50 Free. Linnea Mack and Caroline McTaggart are seeded in the top 10 heading into the 50 Free prelims. At the A3 Performance Invite, the pair nabbed the top two spots in the championship final—Mack in first with a 22.52, followed by McTaggart in 22.80.
On Friday, Upshaw, Soe, and Merlihan will kick things off with the 400 Individual Medley. Upshaw won the event the last time out with a time of 4:16.18. Eight Bruins will compete in the 100 Fly—Katie Grover, Mack, McTaggart, and Katie Kinnear are seeded in the top 10. Grover swam the top time at the A3 Performance invite (53.20), while McTaggart finished fourth. Nine Bruins are slated for the 200 Free. Brigitte Winkler and Escalas will represent UCLA in the 100 Breast, and six Bruins will compete in the 100 Back. Mack, seeded third heading into prelims, finished first in the championship final last time out. Friday's action will conclude with the 200 Medley Relay.
The meet ends on Saturday with the 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 400 Free Relay, and 1650 Free. Five Bruins are slated for the 200 Back—Madison White, Soe, Delisle, Sabrina Kwok, Kinnear—and seven are set to compete in the 100 Free. Escalas and Winkler are the only Bruins swimming the 200 Breast. Grover, Kinnear, Upshaw, White, Delisle, Alex Hubel, and Madison Applegate will hit the lanes for the 200 Fly. Grover, Kinnear, and Upshaw are among the top seeds for the prelims. Wrapping the individual events on Saturday, Soe, Merlihan, and Walker will swim the 1650 Free.
Diving starts on Friday in Minneapolis at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. More information to come...
