FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- It was another day of school records and near victories for the No. 19 UCLA swimming and diving team on Day 2 of the Pac-12 Championships. Following a day that included a near-defense of a Pac-12 diving title, a school record and a flurry of personal and season bests, the Bruins sit in fifth place with 336 points.
The first women's diving competition of the four-day event took place Thursday, as Maria Polyakova took to the boards to defend her 1-meter title from a year ago. Following a preliminary round that saw the junior post a score of 311.95 to nip at the heels of Stanford's Kassidy Cook (315.95), eight divers took to the finals.
In the end, three divers, Cook, Polyakova and USC's Naomi Gowlett, were separated by 10.20 points. Cook secured first place with a score of 338.35, while Polyakova fell just short at 335.75. The Bruin diver posted an event average score of 7.56 and an average round score of 55.96. UCLA divers Ciara Monahan, Annika Lenz and Kat Friese also contributed double-digit points to the team's overall score.
When swimming began again during the evening session, two Bruins quickly established personal-best times in the 500 Free. In the C-Final, Margaux Verger Gourson posted a 4:44.96 to finish second in her heat, while Sandra Soe clocked in at 4:42.53 in the B-Final.
It was all Bruins in the 200 IM B-Final, as Emma Schanz and Kenisha Liu posted UCLA personal-best times of 1:57.64 and 1:57.66 to finish first and second, respectively. The times were just under a second off of Lauren Hall's school record of 1:56.67, set in 2011. Isabella Goldsmith also posted a personal best time, as she clocked in at 1:58.78 in the same heat, to finish fourth.
In the final individual swimming event of the night, seven of eight 50 Free finalists checked in with times under 22 seconds. Included in that pack was Linnea Mack, who broke her own school record en route to a fourth-place finish and a time of 21.67. The senior finished just 0.38 seconds behind Stanford's Simone Manuel, who set a Pac-12 Championship and school-record time of 21.29.
To close out Day 2, the UCLA quartet of Mack, Katie Grover, Sarah Kaunitz and Goldsmith eyed another school record, this time in the 200 Free Relay, but left instead with a season-best time of 1:29.17 and an NCAA B Standard qualifying mark.
Friday's events will begin with the preliminary rounds of the 400 IM Medley, the 100 Fly, the 200 Free, the 100 Breast and the 100 Back during the 10:30 a.m. session. At 12:15, divers will begin the preliminary round of the 3-meter event. Then, in the evening session, each of the aforementioned events will be decided. The 400 Medley Relay will then close out the night of swimming.
The standings following Day 2 are as follows:
1. Stanford - 546
2. California - 490
3. Arizona - 376
4. USC - 351
5. UCLA - 336
6. Arizona State - 274
7. Utah - 165
8. Washington State - 148
9. Oregon State - 130