UCLA
UC Santa Barbara
Grover, Liu, Soe and Pac-12 Lead After Day 1
October 21, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES – No. 21 UCLA had a busy day Saturday, as the Bruins dropped a dual meet at UC Santa Barbara before watching three of its swimmers earn points at the second annual USA College Challenge. The Gauchos captured the win at its Campus Pool, 155-141, while the Pac-12 contingent leads the United States National Team after Day 1, 155-141. Senior Katie Grover, junior Sandra Soe and sophomore Kenisha Liu all participated at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the campus of USC.
Junior Emma Schanz and freshman Jennifer Lathrop each had triumphant individual showings for the nearly-full Bruin roster after returning from the SMU Classic. Schanz registered a pair of wins at UCSB, while Lathrop added her first two.
Grover's 100 Fly effort for the Pac-12 was perhaps the most impressive of the day. The Atlanta native finished fourth and earned two points with an early-season time of 52.29, just back of USA Swimming's Hellen Moffitt (52.11) and Amanda Kendall (51.97). USC's Louise Hansson finished first with a mark of 51.28. Also participating individually was Soe, whose 200 Back exhibition swim timed out at 2:01.48.
Liu earned two points for the Pac-12 as part of the 800 Free Relay group, as the Chino, Calif. native teamed up with conference counterparts Katie Drabot, Robin Neumann and Brooke Forde to form the "B" team, which clocked in at 7:01.12 to finish a close third. The quartet was less than one second back of the second-place team and under four back from the winning team of Katie McLaughlin-Kathleen Baker-Ella Eastin-Katie Ledecky. Grover and Liu also participated with teammates in the 400 Medley Relay, in which they finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Pac-12 and USA Swimming participated in 16 events Saturday, split between men's and women's races. Sixteen more are pending Sunday, as each team will look to be the first to 306.5 Coverage will continue on Pac-12 Networks.
Schanz joined sophomores Lisa Kaunitz and Amy Okada, as well as senior Carly Reid, as the Bruins got things started at UCSB with a winning time of 3:46.59 in the 400 Medley Relay. The freshmen would soon have their moments, beginning with Lathrop's first collegiate win, which came with a time of 56.13 in the 100 Back. She would later add another, taking the 200 Back in a time of 2:00.66. Sandwiched between the two Lathrop wins was one by another first-year swimmer, Allison Goldblatt, who took the 200 Fly in a time of 2:03.15.
The 200 Breast (2:16.65) and 200 IM (2:02.59) belonged to Schanz, as the Colville, Wash. native notched convincing wins in both races. She topped the nearest competitor in the 200 Breast by 4.16 seconds and held off the second-place finisher by 3.09 in the 200 IM.
In the end, the Bruin effort proved not enough, as the home Gauchos picked up seven individual wins and a relay to secure the narrow victory.
Players Mentioned
