UCLA Swimming and Diving: Looking Back and Looking Ahead

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The summer swimming and diving season is heating up for the returning and incoming Bruins. Last week, 14 returning swimmers took part in the Los Angeles Invitational at USC. The highlights of the meet included eight Top 8 finishes for the Bruins. On the diving board, a trio of Bruins took part in the USA Diving National Preliminary Zone D Championships in Mission Viejo. Annika Lenz reached the finals in all four events she competed in.

Katie Kinnear posted the Bruins’ best showing with a second-place finish in the 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:13.36. Kacey Milligan also swam in the event and was 18th with a 2:17.53.

In the 800 Freestyle, Katy Campbell was third with a mark of 8:41.53. Campbell placed 15th in the 400 Free, swimming a 4:19.62 in the preliminaries and a 4:19.83 in the finals.

Madison White was one of two Bruins to post a pair of Top 8 finishes. She was fifth in the 200 Backstroke (2:14.44), with two more teammates (Kinnear, 11th, 2:18.34; Nina Hayes, 21st, 2:22.40 prelims, 2:23.05 finals) also appearing in the event.

White was sixth in the 100 Back with a time of 1:02.62. Kinnear placed 10th (1:03.92 prelims and 1:04.34 finals) and Ashley Tse was 19th (1:05.95 prelims and 1:06.05 finals). White was also 21st in the 200 Free (2:04.65 prelims and 2:04.84 finals).

Noelle Tarazona also had two Top 8 showings. She was seventh in both the 200 Individual Medley (2:19.19) and the 100 Fly (1:00.68). Madison Applegate posted a 19th-place finish in the 100 Fly (1:02.15).

Tse and Jessica Khojasteh were a pair of Bruins in the Top 8 of the 200 Breaststroke. Tse was seventh (2:36.30 prelims and 2:37.20 finals), while Khojasteh was eighth (2:38.12 prelims and 2:38.42 finals). Taylor Carlson (15th, 2:38.74 prelims and 2:40.48 finals) and Maggie Burton (24th, 2:42.33 prelims and 2:43.34 finals) also swam in the 200 Breast.

Carlson, Tse and Khojasteh swam in the 100 Breast, finishing 10th (1:13.11), 12th (1:13.64) and 13th (1:13.96), respectively. In her fourth event of the meet, Tse was 19th in the 400 IM (5:02.01), while Arlyn Upshaw placed 21st (5:04.17).

Linnea Mack swam in a pair of Freestyle events, placing 17th in the 50 (26.03) and 25th in the 100 (56.76). Monica Dornick was 22nd in the 100 Free (56.92 prelims and 57.20 finals).

In Mission Viejo, Lenz had a very successful meet, advancing to next month’s Nationals in all four events. She was fourth after the 3-Meter preliminaries with a five-dive score of 257.80 and improved to second overall in the finals with a 257.20 in her last five attempts. Later that day, she was third in the synchronized 3-Meter (228.96) to advance to the finals, finishing fourth in her last five dives (227.34).

The next day in the 1-Meter, Lenz was fifth in the prelims (229.30) and remained in that position in the finals (231.85) to advance to her first Senior National 1-Meter event. On the final day of the meet, she was third after her five preliminary dives in the Platform with a score of 257.25 and improved to second in the finals (275.40).

Returning diver Danni Repper was 16th in the 1-Meter with a score of 198.55, while incoming freshman Ciara Monahan placed 14th in the 3-Meter (210.10) and 19th in the 1-Meter (193.20).

Next up for Lenz is the AT&T USA Diving National Championships (Aug. 12-17) in Knoxville, Tenn. Monahan is participating a week earlier in Knoxville at the Junior National Championships (Aug. 4-9). She qualified for that meet after placing sixth in the 1-Meter (371.10) and eighth in the 3-Meter (412.85) at the Summer Junior Zone E Championships (July 10-13) in Tucson.

Fellow incoming freshman Maria Polyakova has been invited to participate in the FINA World Junior Diving Championships (Sept. 9-14) in Penza, Russia. The native Russian, who has been attending class and training at UCLA since June, will return to her homeland to dive in both the 1-Meter and 3-Meter for the Russian Diving Federation in a meet which will take place in her birth village.

Back on the swimming side, four incoming freshmen are participating at the Speedo U.S. Junior National Championships (July 30-Aug. 3). The following week, seven returning Bruins are taking part in the Phillips 66 U.S. National Championships (Aug. 6-10). Both events take place at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Complex in Irvine.

Speedo U.S. Junior National Championships (July 30-Aug. 3)
Katie Grover (50, 100 and 200 Free, 100 and 200 Fly)
Sarah Kaunitz (50 and 100 Free, 100 and 200 Breast, 200 IM)
Anna Quinn (200 and 400 Free, 100 and 200 Fly, 200 IM)
Carly Reid (50 and 100 Free)

Phillips 66 U.S. National Championships (Aug. 6-10)
Campbell (400, 800 and 1500 Free)
Kinnear (50, 100 and 200 Fly, 200 Back)
Ally Loper (400 Free)
Mack (50 and 100 Free, 50 and 100 Fly, 50 and 100 Back)
Milligan (400 Free, 200 Fly)
Tarazona (50, 100 and 200 Fly)
White (50, 100 and 200 Back)