UCLA
Stanford
UCLA Defeated at Stanford, 163-128
February 01, 2019 | Swimming & Diving
STANFORD, Calif. โ The UCLA women's swimming and diving team saw its run of eight straight dual meet wins come to a close on Friday afternoon, as two-time defending NCAA Champion Stanford defeated the Bruins 163-128 at Avery Aquatics Center.
Senior Eloise Belanger led the Bruins (8-1) by sweeping both the diving events. Juniors Kenisha Liu (100 free) and Amy Okada (100 fly) also picked up event wins for UCLA. Several other Bruins recorded season-bests.
Belanger got the Bruins off to a good start with outstanding performances in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard championships.
First, she secured a comfortable win in 3m with a season-best score of 348.38. Senior Traci Shiver also did well in 3m, notching a score of 265.28, her best since November.
Belanger then once again did battle in 1m with Stanford's Carolina Sculti โ the two were neck-and-neck in the 1m championship at last month's Bruin Diving Invitational โ with Belanger once again emerging victorious. On Friday, the Montreal, Quebec native hadย final tally of 314.18, which edged out Sculti's 313.95 by just 0.23 points.
UCLA started the swim program by coming up just short in the 200 medley relay, as the Bruins' A Team (Emma Schanz, Claire Grover, Emily Lo, Amy Okada) finished in 1:39.97, just 0.04 seconds behind Stanford's A Team.
Senior Sandra Soe followed that up with a solid race in the 1000 free, as she went under the 10-minute mark for the second time this season at 9:55.98. Freshman Katie Sulkevich (10:15.35) also posted her second-best time of the year.
In the 200 free, Liu raced a 1:46.81 to take second place and earn her first NCAA B Cut of the year in that event. Delaney Smith (1:51.12) and Lisa Kaunitz (1:51.41) also has season-bests in the event.
Emma Schanz logged a season-best 54.01 in the 100 back to take runner-up in that event. Amy Okada (1:59.19, second) and Sophie Clarkowski (2:04.92, fifth) both then posted season-bests in the 200 fly.
After the first break, Liu delivered the Bruins' their first swimming event win of the day, touching first in the 100 free at 49.80. That time represented her second-best outing of the year. UCLA also had the 3-4-5 finishers in that event. ย
Jennifer Lathrop (1:59.87, 200 back), Emily Lo (2:18.04, 200 breast), and Sandra Soe (4:48.29, 500 free) were the runners-up in the following three events.
The 100 fly brought the Bruins their most single-event points of the day, as Okada (54.48), Schanz (54.74), and Clarkowski (56.79) finished 1-2-4.
Ella Kirschke posted a 4:19.73 in the 400 IM to take second and pace UCLA in the final individual event of the day. The Bruins then closed the afternoon with a second-place finish in the 200 free, with the Bruins' B Team (Smethurst, Lathrop, Newman, Clarkowski) touching in 1:36.74.
UCLA is right back in action Saturday afternoon, traveling to Berkeley to take on California starting at 12:00 p.m.
Players Mentioned
