University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
USC
UCLA Defeated by USC, 181-119
February 14, 2020 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA swim and dive team suffered a 181-119 loss to USC on Friday afternoon at Spieker Aquatics Center in the final regular season dual meet of the year for the Bruins.
The Bruins (7-3, 4-3 Pac-12) picked up four event wins in the meet, all by different student-athletes. Before the competition, UCLA's five seniors were recognized in a special Senior Ceremony.
The four Bruins to collect wins included freshman Stephanie Su (1000 free), freshman Rachel Rhee (100 breast), senior Amy Okada (200 fly), and junior Ruby Neave (1M diving).
Su, Rhee, and Neave were the big standouts for UCLA on Friday.
Su earned her second career win in the 1000 free and set a new personal best time in the event. She became the first Bruin this year to break the 10-minute mark in the 1000 this year. The Buena Park, Calif. native also placed second in the 500 free later in the meet.
Meanwhile, Neave placed top-two and broke the 300-point mark in both diving competitions. Her 306.83 in 1M represented a new career-best. Besides her dramatic win in the 100 breast, Rhee also placed second in the 100 free.
The Bruins started the meet off with a strong showing in the 1000 free, finishing 1-2-3 led by Su's season-best time of 9:49.50. She was followed by freshman Daniella Hawkins (season-best 9:54.15) and sophomore Katie Sulkevich (season-best 9:57.94).
Rhee picked up a thrilling win in the 100 breast at 1:00.55, just beating out USC's Maggie Aroesty (1:00.59) to the wall. Rhee's time also served as a personal collegiate-best. Sophomore Claire Grover also scored for UCLA in the 100 breast, coming in at 1:01.14.
With a first place finish in the 200 fly, Okada (season-best 1:56.50) delivered a second consecutive win for the Bruins. Lia Foster (1:59.78) broke the 2-minute mark for the first time to claim third place.
Grover was UCLA's top performer in the 50 free with a time of 22.39, her second B Cut of the year in that event.
UCLA went 2-3-4 in the 200 back, led by Delaney Smith's season-best 1:58.92. Ella Kirschke (season-best 1:59.20, third) and Abriana Howard (1:59.45, fourth) also scored for the Bruins.
Freshman Hannah Butler also had a nice day, setting a new collegiate-best in 1M (280.65) to take third place.
The Bruins and Trojans will match up again on Saturday morning in platform diving on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. In addition, a contingent of UCLA swimmers will be competing in the USA Swimming President's Senior Classic in Coronado, Calif. from Saturday to Monday.
Players Mentioned
