University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
No. 25 UCLA Heads To Texas for 2019 NCAA Championships
March 19, 2019 | Swimming & Diving
Championship Central
AUSTIN, Tex. โ 10 student-athletes from the No. 25-ranked UCLA swimming and diving team are set to compete in this week's 2019 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, scheduled to run from Wednesday, Mar. 20 to Saturday, Mar. 23 at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on the campus of the University of Texas.
The Bruins qualified four swimmers: freshman Claire Grover (50 free, 100 free, 100 breast), junior Kenisha Liu (200 IM, 100 free, 200 free), senior Sandra Soe (500 free, 1650 free), and freshman Mara Newman (100 back, 200 back). Another four โ junior Maisie Jameson, junior Amy Okada, senior Emma Schanz, and freshman Delaney Smith โ are eligible for the three relays UCLA qualified in: 200 free, 400 free, and 400 medley.
After standout performances at last week's Zone E Diving Championships, seniors Maria Polyakova and Eloise Belanger will be heading back to NCAAs for the fourth time in their careers.
ESPN will provide live linear coverage for both Friday and Saturday finals on ESPNU, as well as digital coverage on ESPN3 for Wednesday and Thursday evening finals. Events not streamed by ESPN will be available to watch here. Live results for the Championships are available here.
All week, swimming prelims start at 7 AM PT/9 AM CT with finals beginning at 3 PM PT/5 PM CT. Meanwhile, diving prelims start at 9:30 AM PT/11:30 AM CT on Thursday and Friday and 9:15 AM/11:15 AM CT on Saturday.
UCLA's group gets underway on Thursday, with at least one student-athlete competing in all six scheduled events. Soe (500 free), Liu (200 IM), and Grover (50 free) will each compete in one individual event, while the Bruins will also swim the 200 free and 400 medley relays. Polyakova and Belanger will make their meet debut in the 1-meter championship.
On Friday, Liu (200 free) and Grover (100 breast) re-appear while Newman (100 back) will make her NCAAs debut. Polyakova and Belanger, who have combined for three All-America selections and five top-10 finishes at NCAAs in 3M, return to action as well.
The meet wraps up on Saturday as Newman (200 back), Grover (100 free), Liu (100 free), and Soe (1650 free) are all set to compete. UCLA will also swim the 400 free relay while Belanger is tabbed to compete on tower, an event in which she finished third last year and has accrued three CSCAA All-America honors.
UCLA's 2019 NCAA Championships Schedule
Thursday, Mar. 21
200 free relay
500 free โ Sandra Soe
200 IM โ Kenisha Liu
50 free โ Claire Grover
400 medley relay
1-meter diving โ Eloise Belanger, Maria Polyakova
Friday, Mar. 22
200 free โ Kenisha Liu
100 breast โ Claire Grover
100 back โ Mara Newman
3-meter diving โ Eloise Belanger, Maria Polyakova
Saturday, Mar. 23
200 back โ Mara Newman
100 free โ Kenisha Liu, Claire Grover
400 free relay
1650 free โ Sandra Soe
Platform diving โ Eloise Belanger
Players Mentioned
