UCLA
Fresno State Invite
UCLA Places First at Fresno State Invite
October 06, 2023 | Swimming & Diving
FRESNO, Calif. โ The UCLA swim and dive team opened the 2023-24 season with a sizable win at the Fresno State Invitational, winning 11 of 21 scheduled events at the Fresno State Aquatics Center over Friday and Saturday.
The Bruins finished with a team score of 1,207, nearly 400 pointers higher than runner-up San Diego State's 857. UCLA had the first and/or second place finisher in all but one event.
The Bruins were led over the weekend by graduate freestyler Brooke Schaffer, who won the 100 and 200 free while placing runner-up in the 50 free, and junior Ana Jih-Schiff, who took home wins in the 100 IM and 200 IM while finishing second in the 200 breast.
UCLA is next in action on Friday, Oct. 13, traveling to conference rival Washington State for the team's first dual meet of the season.
FINAL TEAM SCORES
1. UCLA โ 1,207
2. San Diego State โ 857
3. Washington State โ 766
4. Fresno State โ 535
5. San Jose State โ 438
DAY ONE RECAP
The UCLA swim and dive team finished the opening day of the 2023 Fresno State Invite in first place by a wide margin after winning and/or finishing runner-up in 11 of 12 scheduled events on Friday at the Fresno State Aquatics Center.
Participating in their first interscholastic meet of the 2023-24 campaign, the Bruins wrapped day one in Fresno with a score of 710.0, the next-closest school being San Diego State at 484.0.
UCLA took home four individual event wins and also had a strong showing in relays, winning the 200 free and 200 medley while placing second in the 800 free.ย
Particularly strong days came from junior Paige MacEachern, who won the 400 IM and was runner-up in the 500 free, and graduate Brooke Schaffer, who won the 200 free and placed second in the 50 free. Junior Ana Jih-Schiff (200 IM) and graduate Aislinn Walsh (100 fly) also notched event wins for the Bruins. The latter was making her debut as a Bruin after spending her undergrad career at Ohio State.
UCLA opened the meet in strong fashion, winning the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:42.83. The Bruins' winning quartet included sophomore Rosie Murphy, Eva Carlson, Walsh, and Schaffer.
MacEachern was UCLA's top finisher in the first individual race of the year โ the 500 free โ as she went 4:56.54 to place second. She was one of just three entrants to break five minutes in the race.
The Bruins dominated the next race, the 200 IM, taking five of the top six spots. Jih-Schiff (2:02.92) touched first by a fairly-wide margin, while Murphy (2:04.38) was able to take second.
The 50 free saw a pair of Bruins finish top-four in Schaffer (23.27, second) and Walsh (23.52, fourth).
UCLA wrapped the morning swim session with another relay win, as senior Maddie Wright, freshman Sarah Bennetts, Walsh, and Schaffer eked out a win over SDSU at 1:33.53.
The morning diving session saw junior Zoe Jespersgaard and freshman Lauren Hallaselka โ in her Bruin debut โ place 2-3 in 3-meter at 285.45 and 271.15, respectively.
Walsh opened up the Friday night session with another win for UCLA, touching first in the 100 fly at 53.47. Schaffer was not far behind her at 55.22, good for third.
The Bruins had each of the top three finishers in the 400 IM, led by MacEachern (4:21.04) and followed by Murphy (4:22.52) and sophomore Ashley Kolessar (4:24.36).
UCLA again took the top two spots in the next race, with Schaffer (1:50.26) winning the 200 free in a photo finish with teammate junior Gizem Guvenc (1:50.30).
The 100 breast saw Bennetts narrowly miss out on a win, with her 1:02.19 just four-hundredths of a second behind SDSU's Moa Bergdahl.
Freshman Amy Zhang (56.13) was UCLA's top finisher in the final individual race of the day, the 100 back, taking fourth.
DAY TWO RECAP
The Bruins kept their foot on the gas pedal on day two of the FSU Invite, winning five of nine scheduled events and placing the runner-up in the four other events they didn't win.
Individual event winners on Saturday included Jih-Schiff (100 IM), Murphy (200 back), Brooke Schaffer (100 free), and Lauren Hallaselka (1-meter diving).
UCLA opened the day with its third and final relay win of the weekend, as the quartet of Murphy, Carlson, Walsh, and Guvenc swam the 400 medley in 3:45.02.
The Bruins then had a strong showing in the first individual race of the morning, placing the top four finishers in the 100 IM. Jih-Schiff (57.01) touched first in that race to pick up her second individual win of the meet, and she was followed by sophomore Fay Lustria (57.84), MacEachern (57.98), and Bennetts (58.09).
Murphy (2:01.36) and junior Mia Chang (2:02.40) teamed up to go 1-2 in the 200 back, giving the Bruins three straight wins to open the day.
Schaffer made it four in a row after beating out the field in the 100 free at 50.24.
The final two individual races saw the Bruins place runners-up in the 200 breast (Jih-Schiff, 2:15.38) and 200 fly (Walsh, 2:00.86).
Hallaselka put a bow on the Bruins' weekend with her first-collegiate event win, as she had the top score in the 1-meter diving championship at 282.30. UCLA went 1-2-3 in that event, with junior Zoe Jespersgaard (272.80) and graduate Savana Trueb (259.20) ending up behind Jespersgaard.
Players Mentioned
