UCLA
San Diego
Bruins Rout USD, Harvard in First Meet of 2019
January 07, 2019 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES โ The UCLA women's swimming and diving team maintained its unbeaten start to the season after defeating both Harvard and San Diego on Monday at Spieker Aquatics Center. The Bruins bested the Crimson by a score of 184-110 and the Toreros by a score of 215-77.
UCLA (5-0) won 15 of the 16 scheduled events on Monday, including both one-meter and three-meter diving and 13 of 14 swimming events.
The Bruins had several athletes who won multiple individual events, including Maria Polyakova (1m diving, 3m diving), Claire Grover (100 breast, 100 free), Kenisha Liu (50 free, 200 free) Sandra Soe (500 free, 1000 free), Emma Schanz (100 back, 200 breast), and Amy Okada (100 fly, 200 fly).
UCLA's divers started the day with a strong showing in the 3-meter championship, with Bruins finishing first and third. Senior Maria Polyakova, making her first appearance with UCLA since Nov. 3, logged a score of 326.10 to take first place while sophomore Alice Yanovsky took third at 275.15. Traci Shiver finished seventh at 254.50 while Madeline Russell had a season-high score of 232.40 to take 10th.
Polyakova followed up with a standout performance in the 1-meter championship, taking first by a wide margin with a final tally of 317.75. That figure was her second-best of the year, trailing only her school-record 355.50 mark set on Nov. 3, 2018 against Arizona State. Russell (220.35), Yanovsky (218.70), and Shiver (209.95) placed 9-10-11, respectively.
UCLA opened up the swim portion of the meet with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay. The Bruins' A Team (Emma Schanz, Claire Grover, Amy Okada, Kenisha Liu) touched in 1:42.37, while the B Team (Mara Newman, Delaney Smith, Emily Lo, Ella Kirschke) was right behind them at 1:44.52.
The Bruins went 1-2 in the next event as well, the 1000 free. Senior Sandra Soe led the race practically the entire way, finishing in 10:00.68, less than a second off her season-best. Freshman Katie Sulkevich was right behind her with a collegiate-best time of 10:15.95 to take second place.
UCLA took home yet another event win in the 200 free, with Kenisha Liu racing a season-best 1:47.82 to take first. Freshman Delaney Smith delivered vital points for the Bruins as well with a third-place time of 1:51.49.
In the next event, Emma Schanz (55.05) and Mara Newman (56.49) finished 1-3 in the 100 back to deliver another win for the Bruins.
UCLA kept it rolling in the 100 breaststroke, with Claire Grover touching in 1:02.73 to take first place. Emily Lo (1:03.75, second) and Emma Smethurst (season-best 1:06.27, fourth) also scored for the Bruins.
Junior Amy Okada delivered a dramatic win for UCLA in the 200 fly, outlasting a late rush from Harvard's Brittany Usinger and beating her to the wall by .29 seconds at 2:01.50. Making her collegiate debut in the event, freshman Ella Kirschke raced a 2:04.84 to take third place.
The Bruins concluded an unbeaten first half of the meet with a 1-2 finish in the 50 freestyle. Kenisha Liu was the first to touch, sprinting to a season-best 23.09 finish. Maisie Jameson was right behind her at 23.43 to grab second place.
Claire Grover secured her second event win of the day by winning the 100 free with a time of 51.10. Kirschke and sophomore Olivia Andrew โ making her 2018-19 debut โ tied for fourth-place with identical times of 52.20.
UCLA's streak of event wins ended with the 200 back, as Harvard's Samantha Shelton touched first in 1:58.98. Newman was the Bruins' highest finisher in the first heat, taking second at 2:02.44. Freshman Abriana Howard claimed the second heat with a collegiate-best time of 2:01.30.
The 200 breast brought another 1-2 finish for the Bruins. Schanz led the pack by a significant margin, finishing in 2:14.29 for her second event win of the day. Emily Lo placed second with a time of 2:20.11.
Soe wrapped up a solid afternoon with another win in a distance event, taking first in the 500 free at 4:55.03. Lisa Kaunitz was the third-place finisher at 5:00.72. Freshman Sophia Cavalli established a new collegiate best at 5:01.94 en route to a first-place finish in the second heat.
Okada won her second butterfly event in as many tries with a 55.10 time in the 100 fly.
Kirschke and Harvard's Samantha Shelton went neck-and-neck for the first half of the 400 IM, but Delaney Smith surged ahead during the breaststroke portion of the race and set up a photo finish between her and Kirschke during the final 100 yards. Kirschke ended up touching a split second ahead of Smith, coming in first at 4:20.73, just ahead of Smith's 4:20.91.
The final event of the day, the 400 medley relay, was won by the UCLA A Team of Liu, Grover, Jameson, and Okada in 3:52.63.
UCLA returns to action later this week, hosting UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego on Friday at 3:00 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Center. Bruin head swimming and diving coach Cyndi Gallagher, who claimed her 198th and 199th career victories on Monday, can secure win No. 200 on Friday.ย
Players Mentioned
