Bruins Compete on the Road This Week
November 30, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES, Calif. โ The UCLA women's swimming and diving teams hit the road this week to compete in the Texas Invitational and the UGA Fall Invitational, respectively.ย The Texas Invite runs Wednesday through Saturday, while the UGA Fall Invite takes place Friday through Sunday.
Last time out, the Bruin swimmers dominated the A3 Performance Invitational, winning the meet for the second straight year.ย UCLA took four of five relays throughout the Invite.ย In the individual events, senior Linnea Mack nabbed a pair of first-place finishes (100 Back, 100 Free), while senior Madison White, sophomore Sandra Soe, and freshman Amy Okada each posted wins as well.ย ย ย ย ย
"The girls have had a couple days of rest, so they should be faster," said UCLA head swimming and diving coach Cyndi Gallagher of her expectations for this week.ย "It's going to be tougher competition and everyone is at different points in the season.ย Our focus is going to be on us though, and not the competition.ย We're hoping to get some NCAA qualifying times.ย We're close and we've been fast at this meet before."ย ย ย ย ย
"This meet is really fun because it's not just Pac-12 teamsโwe'll get to face some new teams that we wouldn't normally see until NCAAs," said White of the Invite.ย "We're well-rested and were able to spend time with our families last week, so I think that helped us prepare for this week."ย
The multi-day meet, which simulates a competition environment comparable to the Pac-12 and NCAA Championship meets, features the Bruins along with USC, Arizona, Wisconsin, BYU, Harvard, Denver, Oklahoma Baptist, and the host Longhorns.ย The meet takes place at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Longhorn Network will air live coverage of the A finals Thursday at 4 p.m. PT and Saturday at 2 p.m. PT. The A finals will air on a tape-delayed basis Friday night at approximately 6:30 p.m. PT.ย
For meet information and a complete schedule, click here.
On the boards, the UCLA diving team is fresh off an impressive showing at the Trojan Diving Invitational.ย Sophomoreย Eloise Belangerย and juniorย Ciara Monahanย went 1-2 in the 1-meter.ย Belanger topped the competition with a 589.65, while Monahan checked in at second with a 562.65.ย Three Bruins posted top-10 finishes in the 3-meter event.ย Seniorย Annika Lenzย led the pack, finishing fifth with a score of 578.25.ย On the tower, Lenz and Belanger placed second and third, respectively.ย Lenz finished just 3.85 points behind Madison Witt of USC, who won the event with a 522.45.ย
"We're using it as our midway point to see what we need to work on for the rest of the year," said UCLA head diving coach Tom Stebbins of the meet.ย "We'll get a sense of where we are both competitively and physically, and we'll decide what processes we need to go through to get to where we need to be."ย
Live stats for the UGA Diving Invite will be available here.ย Prelims start at 9:30 a.m. each day, with finals set for 5 p.m. on Friday andย Saturday and 3 p.m. onย Sunday.ย The three-day event will take place at Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Georgia.ย ย ย
For updates, follow the Bruins on Twitter.ย ย ย
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