UCLA
San Diego
UCLA Set to Begin Season at SMU, San Diego
October 12, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES โ The No. 21 UCLA swimming and diving team will officially begin its 2017-18 campaign Friday, Oct. 13, when a group heads to the University of San Diego, while another contingent of eight swimmers and one diver commences a two-day competition at the SMU Classic. Action from San Diego's Sports Center Pool will start at 2:00 p.m., while both days at SMU's Westside Aquatic Center in Lewisville, Texas will kick off at 4:15 p.m., PT.
Updates from San Diego and Lewisville will be available via the Meet Manager app. Live stats from the SMU Classic will also be available at SMUMustangs.com, while diving results can be found at divemeets.com.
The Bruins are coming off a season that saw them establish 10 new school records (eight swimming and two diving) while defending Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center with an unblemished home mark. UCLA will be without the recently-graduated Linnea Mack and Madison White, among others, but returns a decorated group that includes Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) All-America honorees seniors Katie Grover, Sarah Kaunitz and Maria Polaykova, junior Eloise Belanger, as well as school-record holders, sophomores Isabella Goldsmith, Kenisha Liu and Amy Okada.
Another UCLA returner, junior Emma Schanz, shined brightly at last year's SMU Classic. The Colville, Wash. native won the 400 IM A Final with a time of 4:09.52โnearly two seconds faster than the nearest competitor. Schanz also registered third-place finishes in the 200 Breast A Final (2:09.18) and 200 IM A Final (1:59.51), as well as a second-place showing in the 100 Breast B Final (1:01.53). The Bruins finished fourth in the six-team contest, with 266.5 points.
This 2017 field is identical to the 2016 one, as UCLA will be joined by No. 9 Louisville, Miami, No. 6 Michigan, No. T7 USC and host SMU for the second straight year. Representing the Bruins at this year's competition will be swimmers Goldsmith, Grover, Sarah Kaunitz, freshman Jennifer Lathrop, Liu, Okada, Schanz and junior Sandra Soe, as well as senior diver Ciara Monahan. Monahan represented the Bruins at last year's competition with scores of 264.20 in the 1m and 267.65 in the 3m. Swimmers may compete in three events per day.
In San Diego, the Bruins will look for a repeat of last season's home performance against the Toreros. UCLA welcomed five teams to the Spieker Aquatic Center in 2016 for its Pink Meet and dispatched each team decisively. The Bruins held a 165.5-70.5 edge over the Toreros.
San Diego will be hosting its second consecutive Pac-12 opponent, as it fell to USC on Sep. 29, 136-106.
Players Mentioned
