UCLA
Fresno State Invite
Swim & Dive Opens New Season at Fresno State Invite
October 05, 2023 | Swimming & Diving
The UCLA swimming and diving team is all set to begin the 2023-24 regular season this weekend, heading north for the Fresno State Invite.
The five-team invitational opens on Friday, Oct. 6 with an 11:00 a.m. morning session and 6:00 p.m. session. The squads will return to the Fresno State Aquatics Center for a third session at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7.
All three sessions of the competition will be streamed for free on the Mountain West Network. Fans can watch the stream on a web browser, and the MWN also has apps available on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku. In addition, live results will be available through the Meet Mobile app ($).
Scheduled events for the Friday morning session include the 200 medley relay, 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 200 freestyle relay, and 3-meter diving.
The evening session will follow with the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 800 free relay, and a team diving event.
Saturday's session is set to include the 400 medley relay, 1650 free, 100 IM, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay, and 1-meter diving.
Besides UCLA and the host Bulldogs, the invitational field is rounded out by Washington State, San Jose State, and San Diego State.
UCLA is coming off a solid 2022-23 campaign. The Bruins won six consecutive dual meets to open the season, had their most individual NCAA qualifiers (seven) since 2016, and had their most All-Americans (five) since 2017. In addition, Eden Cheng earned Pac-12 Freshman Diver of the Year honors. UCLA set five school records over the course of the season, and placed top-four at the Pac-12 Championships for the fourth consecutive season.
UCLA returns 2023 CSCAA All-Americans in Cheng, sophomore Katrina Bellio, junior Gizem Guvenc, and junior Paige MacEachern. A strong crop of newcomers is headlined by freshman diver Lauren Hallaselkä, who represented her native Finland at European and World Championships in 2023, grad transfer sprinter Aislinn Walsh, who was a 2023 CSCAA National Invitational Champion in the 100 fly, and freshman Sarah Bennetts, who was a CIF State Champion as a senior at Davis High School.
Follow @UCLASwimAndDive on Twitter and Instagram for all team updates.
Players Mentioned
