UCLA
Georgia Fall Invitational
UCLA Off to Solid Start on First Day of Georgia Invite
November 29, 2018 | Swimming & Diving
ATHENS, Ga. โ The UCLA swim and dive team recorded four NCAA B-Standard times on Thursday and sophomore diver Alice Yanovsky logged an NCAA Zone Championship-qualifying score in her season debutย to highlight the first day of the Georgia Fall Invitational at the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
UCLA ends Thursday in fifth place in team scoring, racking up 138.5 total points. Michigan is in first place with 300 points.
UCLA scored its most single-event points in the very first event of the day, as the Bruins' A Team of Claire Grover, Kenisha Liu, Maisie Jameson, and Amy Okada earned fifth-place with a time of 1:30.64 in the 200 free relay, netting 28 points for UCLA.
That time was a season-best by a UCLA relay team this year, besting the previous mark by almost two seconds.
UCLA's B Team of Ella Kirschke, Mara Newman, Jennifer Lathrop, and Jackie Basham finished in 1:34.39 to take 11th place and score another 14 points.
Sandra Soe grabbed seven points for the Bruins in the 500 free, placing second in the "B" Final and 10th overall with a time of 4:45.23, an improvement of over 10 seconds on her previous season-best and an NCAA-qualifying B-Standard.
Junior Lisa Kaunitz (4:51.88, 20th) and freshman Abriana Howard (5:03.45, 24th) both raced in the "C" Final of the 500 free.
Senior Emma Schanz brought home 12 more points for the Bruins with a seventh-place showing in the 200 IM, finishing with an NCAA "B" Cut time of 1:58.28.
In the "C" Final of the 200 IM, Delaney Smith cracked the two-minute mark for the first time this year and just snuck under the threshold for an NCAA B-Standard with a time of 1:59.80. Liu (2:00.37) and Kirschke (2:02.58) both qualified for the "C" Final as well, finishing 21st and 24th, respectively.
The Bruins placed three swimmers inside the top-13 of the 50 free finals, led by freshman Claire Grover's season-best and B-Cut time of 22.44. She tied for sixth-place overall, making it into the "A" Final with a 22.50 time in the prelim.
Though they didn't record NCAA-qualifying times, Jameson (22.97, 12th) and Okada (22.99, 13th) both scored points for UCLA in the 50 free.
UCLA had a pair of divers score on the 3-meter springboard, led byย Yanovsky. Making her season debut, Yanovsky posted a 241.00 in the final to finish seventh. She was especially strong earlier in the day, logging a 285.70 in the prelim, which was fourth-best among all competitors and over the 280.00 threshold for NCAA qualification.
Senior Madeline Russell also qualified for the 3m final, following up her 223.95 prelim score with a 226.40 in the final. Senior Traci Shiver narrowly missed out on qualifying for the final with a 221.70 score in the prelims.
The Bruins closed their day with a 40-point outing in the 400 medley relay, as the "A" Team of Schanz, Grover, Okada, and Liu finished sixth (3:35.95) for 26 points while the "B" Team came in 11th at 3:41.19 for another 14 points.
The three-day meet resumes on Friday, with the scheduled events including the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving, and 800 free relay. Live stats and a stream of the finals can both be found on the UCLA swim & dive schedule page. ย
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