UCLA
Texas Invite
Relays Lead Bruin Swim & Dive on Day One of Texas Invitational
November 30, 2006 | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 30, 2006
The No. 14 UCLA women's swim and dive team had a solid first day of competition at the Texas Invitational in Austin, TX as the 200 Freestyle Relay team of Anna Poteete, Katie Arnold, Amy Thurman and Katherine Wong led the team with a seventh-place swim in a season-best and NCAA "B" qualifier of 1:33.49. The Bruins also had a seventh-place finish from the 400 Medley Relay team of Arnold, Jeana Fuccillo, Thurman and Poteete, swimming a season-best time of 3:45.41.
The Bruins stand in seventh-place after day one with 75 points, while Arizona leads with 321 points.
"Tonight was a lot better then the prelims this morning," said Assistant Coach Erika Hansen. " We swam a lot better and picked up several NCAA qualifiers, so that was good."
Senior Katie Nelson posted the highest individual performance with her 13th-place swim in the B Final of the 500 Freestyle, improving on her season-best with a swim of 4:50.88, an NCAA "B" qualifier.
Junior Shannon Hackett and senior Jane Imagane also swam season-bests in the 500 Freestyle with Hackett improving to 4:53.07 and Imagane to 4:53.38 for 18th and 19th-place respectively. Both Hackett and Imagane's marks were also NCAA "B" qualifying times.
In the 200 IM, Fuccillo finished 24th in the C Final, swimming 2:04.32, while senior Amy Thurman was 26th in the 50 Free with a season-best 23.62.
In diving action, senior Sara Clark finished eighth on three-meter (259.00 pts.), while Amanda Blong was 10th (251.35). Sophomores Brittany Hill (232.00, 21st), Marisa Samaniego (227.10, 22nd), Tess Schofield (216.60, 26th) and Shannon Pirozzi (192.55, 31st) also competed on 3M.
At the U.S. Open in West Lafayette, IN, former Bruin Kim Vandenberg finished 12th in the 50 Free in a time of 26.76, equaling her lifetime-best in that event. She moved up two spots in the final after finishing 14th in the prelims (26.72). Junior Chiemi Yamamoto, also competing at the U.S. Open, finished 55th in the 200 IM in a time of 2:25.06.
Live results are available at TexasSports.com
Results from the U.S. Open can be found at the U.S. Open results page
