Bruins Wrap Day Two at Texas Invite
December 04, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 19 UCLA swim team is through two days of competition at the Texas Invitational at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Junior Linnea Mack and freshman Caroline McTaggart each posted wins in their respective finals of the 50 Freestyle while swimming NCAA B qualifying times.
#texasinvite Day 2 @linneakayy going fast off the block! @Gobruins27 @ucladiving @UCLAAthletics @dailybruin pic.twitter.com/fZYamJV7QL
— UCLA Swim And Dive (@UCLASwimAndDive) December 3, 2015
800 Freestyle Relay
The Bruins opened the meet on Wednesday evening with two top-10 finishes in the 800 Free Relay. Madison White, Mack, Alex Hubel, and Madison Applegate posted the eighth-best mark (7:15.49). Close behind in ninth, McTaggart, Mary Pelton, Katie Grover, and Sandra Soe swam a 7:16.59. UCLA's C squad—Michaela Merlihan, Hayden Walker, Arlyn Upshaw, and Brigitte Winkler—placed 15th with a 7:26.08.
200 Freestyle Relay
Mack, White, Katie Kinnear, and McTaggart posted a top-five finish in the 200 Free Relay on Thursday evening. The quartet swam a 1:30.83 to finish fifth. UCLA's B team—Pelton, Hubel, Sabrina Kwok, and Winkler—placed 13th overall (1:34.35).
500 Freestyle
In the morning session, Soe finished 13th (4:47.77) to qualify for the B final. Merlihan and Walker advanced to the D final with a 4:56.92 and 4:59.08, respectively. Soe's 4:46.47 was fourth in the B race (12th overall), and was also an NCAA B qualifying mark. In the D race, Merlihan nabbed the top spot (4:51.00) and Walker finished sixth (4:57.82).
200 Individual Medley
Upshaw posted the top time for the Bruins in the prelims of the 200 IM. The senior finished 12th with a 2:00.43 to advance to the consolation final. Pelton swam a 2:02.05 in the morning session to finish 19th and advance to the bonus final. Not advancing to the evening session, Marie-Pierre Delisle and freshman Elena Escalas posted marks of 2:06.62 and 2:10.67, respectively.
In the evening session, Upshaw swam the second-best time in the consolation final (1:59.80) to finish 10th overall. Pelton finished 24th overall with a time of 2:03.72.
50 Freestyle
Of the 10 Bruins competing in the 50 Free, six advanced to the evening finals. Mack swam the top time for UCLA (22.97), good enough for 12th place and a spot in the B final. McTaggart made the C race after finishing 19th in the morning swim (23.19). Grover and Kinnear advanced to the D race, while White and Applegate qualified for the E final. Hubel was an alternate for the evening session after posting a 23.76 in the prelims.
Both Mack and McTaggart posted the top times in their respective finals. Improving her time from the morning swim, Mack won the consolation final with an NCAA B qualifying time (22.44). McTaggart swam an NCAA B qualifier (22.75) in the bonus final to finish 17th overall. Grover and Kinnear were third (27th) and eighth (32nd), respectively, in the D race, while Applegate and White went 2, 4 in the E race.
400 Medley Relay
In the final event of the evening, the Bruins recorded a top-10 finish in the 400 Medley Relay. The quartet of Mack, Winkler, Grover, and McTaggart finished eighth at 3:38.77. Kwok, Escalas, Delisle, and Hubel placed 16th (3:48.66).
Friday's action will include the 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, and 200 Medley Relay. Preliminaries will begin at 7 a.m. PT, while finals take place at 4 p.m. PT. Live results will be available through the Meet Mobile app, available on iTunes. Daily results will be posted here.
