UCLA
Bruin Diving Invitational
UCLA Hosts Bruin Diving Invitational, Oregon St. in Busy Week
January 17, 2019 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES – UCLA swimming and diving is set for a busy weekend at Spieker Aquatics Center, as the diving squad will host the 2019 Bruin Diving Invitational Friday through Sunday while the swim team welcomes Oregon State starting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday for a Pac-12 dual meet. In addition, Saturday's meet will serve as Senior Day for the eight seniors on the squad.
Each day of the Bruin Diving Invitational will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Spieker. The dual meet against OSU is also set for a 10:30 a.m. start, with senior recognition taking place about 15 minutes prior.
Real-time results from the Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center will be available at DiveMeets.com.
The Bruin Invite has just short of 100 entries from 15 schools. Competition begins Friday with the women's 3-meter and men's 1-meter. Saturday brings women's platform and men's 3-meter. The invitation concludes on Sunday with women's 1-meter and men's platform. There will be a 15-minute break between each of the preliminary and final rounds.
Air Force, Denver, Stanford, USC, Utah, Hawai'i, Cal Baptist, UNLV, California, Fresno State, UC San Diego, and Cal Poly will all be sending men's divers, while all those schools plus Northern Arizona University and San Diego State will be sending women's divers. UCLA's scheduled competitors include senior Eloise Belanger, senior Maria Polyakova, senior Madeline Russell, senior Traci Shiver, and sophomore Alice Yanovsky.
Belanger, who is making her 2018-19 season debut, nearly swept the 2018 iteration of the Bruin Diving Invitational, as she won the 1-meter and 3-meter events while taking second on tower. Polyakova won the 1m and 3m at the Bruin Diving Invitational the year prior and has had a stellar 2018-19 campaign so far, setting a school-record 355.50 in 1-meter against Arizona State on Nov. 3 and being named the Pac-12 Diver of the Month for November. She has already qualified for Zones in both 1m and 3m.
The Bruin swimmers meanwhile will look to maintain the team's unbeaten 7-0 record, the program's best start to a season since 2012-13. Oregon State is 3-4 so far on the campaign, having lost both of its meets against common opponents with UCLA, falling to Arizona State 153-96 on Oct. 5 and 152-103 to Arizona on Oct. 27.
The Bruins are coming off a four-win week, taking decisions against all teams in double-dual meets against San Diego-Harvard and UC Santa Barbara-UC San Diego. Harvard, which UCLA defeated 184-110, was the lone team of the four to crack the 100-point threshold. The Bruins' pair of victories over the Gauchos and Tritons pushed UCLA head coach Cyndi Gallagher over the 200-victory mark for her career. In her 31st season, Gallagher is by far the winningest coach in program history.
Sandra Soe, Emma Schanz, and Claire Grover were UCLA's top performers last week, winning four individual events apiece. Kenisha Liu and Amy Okada were right behind them at three wins. Meanwhile, freshmen Emily Lo (200 breaststroke; 2:17.58) and Sophia Cavalli (200 free; 1:50.93) picked up the first wins of their collegiate careers.
Players Mentioned
