UCLA
NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships
Bruins Wrap Day 2 at NCAA Championships
March 15, 2018 | Swimming & Diving
COLUMBUS, Ohio โ A day after turning in a school-record 800 Free Relay time, the Bruins returned to action at the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion Thursday. Day 2 marked the first action of the meet for swimmer Emma Schanz and diver Eloise Belanger, who joined three-quarters of the Day 1 standouts, Kenisha Liu, Sandra Soe and Margaux Verger Gourson.
The Bruins' 200 Free Relay team, which set a new school-record of 1:28.91 during the Bruins' February rivalry meet with USC, came up just short of that mark Thursday. Liu, Grover, Sarah Kaunitz and Amy Okada, the same group that shined versus the Trojans, clocked in at 1:29.47 for a 21st-place showing in the preliminary round. Grover again swam the fastest split at 21.98, while Sarah Kaunitz was hot on her heels at 22.10.
Distance standouts Soe (4:45.13) and Verger Gourson (4:48.54) participated in the 500 Free Thursday, while Schanz and Liu tackled the 200 IM. Both broke the 2:00 mark, with Schanz touching the wall at 1:58.53 and Liu just behind her at 1:59.26.
Belanger turned in the ninth-best 1-meter dive of the first preliminary round, notching a score of 50.40 on her 403B. She later hit the 50 mark on her fifth attemptโa 5233D helped inch her up the leaderboard. She ultimately turned in a 20th-place finish, just outside of the finals.
The Bruins will be back at the Friday. Grover will look to continue her fine showing in the 100 Fly and 200 Free events. Liu will join her in the 200 Free, while Schanz will be back in action with hopes of impressing in the 100 Back. Belanger, meanwhile, will take on another talent-rich group in the 3-meter diving competition. Friday's swimming prelims can be seen HERE, starting at 6 a.m. (PT). Diving prelimsย can be found HERE (8:30 a.m.). Live coverage of the finals can be seen on ESPNU.
The rankings after Day 2 are as follows:
1. Stanford โ 211
2. California โ 147
3. Texas โ 109
4. Tennessee โ 108.5
5. Michigan โ 101
6. Louisville โ 99
7. Texas A&M โ 89
8. Virginia โ 86
9. Minnesota โ 70
10. Virginia โ 46
29. UCLA โ 6
Players Mentioned
