UCLA
Fresno State
UCLA Tops Fresno St. in First Dual Meet of 2020-21
January 16, 2021 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES โ The UCLA swim and dive team concluded a two-day dual meet with visiting Fresno State on Saturday, topping the Bulldogs by a score of 177-115 to record a win in the squad's first home event of the 2020-21 campaign.
The Bruins (1-0) posted the top time in all but one of 17 events over the course of the meet. Eight separate UCLA swimmers recorded individual event wins, with another two recording unofficial wins as exhibition swimmers.
Sophomore Stephanie Su led the Bruins with a pair of individual event wins, touching first in both of the distance free races. Sophomore Gabby Dang had an individual event win (100 free) and an exhibition win (100 fly).
"It's been a challenging season and a different season, and we knew that coming in, so our goal was to practice racing all-in and see what we could do," said UCLA head coach Jordan Wolfrum. "That's what we're going to keep doing in every meet we have, because we don't know how many chances we'll have this year. I was really proud of the effort, energy, and attitude of our team this weekend."
UCLA opened the affair by winning seven of eight events on Friday.
The meet started with a Bruin triumph in the 200 free relay, as the UCLA As (Brooke Schaffer, Claire Grover, Sophia Kosturos, Nora Clarkowski) completed the race in 1:31.38.
Junior Delaney Smith delivered UCLA's first individual win in the next event, touching first in the 200 IM at 2:01.42. It was the second career event win for Smith, both in the 200 IM. UCLA swept the first four spots in that race, as Smith was followed by Grover (2:03.88), freshman Maddie Smith (2:06.35), and sophomore Katrina Sommer (2:06.54).
Fresno picked up a win in the ensuing event โ the 200 back โ on the strength of Athena Clayson's 1:58.02. Junior Abriana Howard (1:59.99) placed runner-up.
Su (4:57.04) paced the field in the 500 free to earn her first career win in that event and third career win overall. Junior Katie Sulkevich (4:59.76) also broke the 5-minute mark while sophomore Daniella Hawkins finished in 5:02.43 to help the Bruins finish 1-2-3.
In her collegiate debut, freshman Sam baron posted a 1:03.08 to win the 100 breast. Emily Lo (1:03.42) was second in the three-swimmer field.
Dang (50.48), junior Ella Kirschke (50.52), and sophomore Rachel Rhee (50.92) all finished in quick succession to give UCLA another 1-2-3 finish in the 100 free.
Senior Lia Foster closed Friday's individual events in a strong way for UCLA, winning the 200 fly by over two seconds (2:04.52). The Bruins wrapped the first day of competition with a relay win in the 400 medley (3:38.88).
Saturday provided an even stronger performance by UCLA, with a Bruin swimmer or relay squad posting the top time all nine events.
Su completed her distance sweep with a 10:10.17 in the 100 free, beating out the runner-up by almost seven seconds.
Kosturos followed with a win in the 100 back (54.39) before Emily Lo (2:17.48; 200 breast) and Rhee (1:50.22) notched back-to-back middle distance wins.
From there, UCLA would record exhibition wins in the remaining events. Dang had the best time in 100 fly (53.44), Schaffer the best time in the 50 free (23.29), and Kirschke in the 400 IM (4:18.77). The meet concluded with the UCLA As posting a 3:22.45 in the 400 free relay.
A pair of Bruin seniors, Foster and Jennifer Lathrop, were honored in a pre-meet ceremony on Saturday. Emily Honng, who did not compete this weekend but participated with the team through the end of fall quarter, was also honored.
The 2021 Bruin Diving Invitational remains ongoing, with women's 3-meter/men's platform taking place Saturday afternoon followed by women's platform/men's 1-meter on Sunday. Sophomore Hannah Butler opened the competition on a high note for UCLA, winning the women's 1-meter championship on Friday afternoon.
UCLA swim and dive is back in action next weekend, heading across town for a tri-meet at USC featuring conference rival Arizona. The two-day meet runs from Friday through Saturday at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
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