FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – For the third straight year, a UCLA diver captured a Pac-12 championship at the Weyerhaeuser King Aquatic Center. For the first time, though, Eloise Belanger accomplished the feat. The junior posted a score of 324.40 to hold off a talented crop of divers, including second-place finisher Kassidy Cook, by 3.50 points.
On the swimming side, junior Emma Schanz broke her own school record in the preliminary round of the 200 IM. Her time of 1:56.06 was nearly a half second faster than her previous mark of 1:56.51, set late last year at the Texas Invitational.
Belanger was rivaled by few early on, as the Montreal, QC, Canada native posted the two highest-scoring dives of the preliminary round. Her 303B fourth dive went for a score of 61.20, while her 5333D final dive totaled 61.10. Her final tally of 326.20 for the first six dives was 18.50 better than Frida Kaellgren of Arizona State (307.70), who was the only other diver to surpass 300. Ciara Monahan of the Bruins also performed well, totaling a score of 293.15 to take fifth.
Cook pushed Belanger throughout the final, as the standouts went dive for dive. The Stanford senior held a decided advantage after three dives, but the back half of Belanger's list—and her execution—proved to be the difference. She followed her lowest-scoring dive of the day with her highest, a 303B that went for a contest-best 64.80. Belanger also outscored Cook on her fifth and sixth dives to make the difference.
With the win, Bruin women's divers have secured eight 1-Meter Pac-10/12 titles. Belanger joins Karla Goltman (1989), Kristen Walls (1992-94), Erin Simmons (1995), Marisa Samaniego (2009) and Maria Polyakova (2016).
With her school-record prelim time, Schanz was the lone Bruin to qualify for an "A" final Thursday. The junior took eighth in a talented 200 IM field that was separated by just 3.83 seconds. Sarah Kaunitz twice broke the 2:00 mark, taking sixth in the "B" final with a time of 1:59.98. Kenisha Liu shined in the "C" final, touching the wall at 1:57.40 to take the top spot.
Sandra Soe reached the 500 Free "B" final, while Katie Grover did the same in the 50 Free. Grover took third in that one, clocking in at 22.39.
The 200 Free Relay quartet of Liu, Grover, Sarah Kaunitz and Amy Okada took fifth in the 200 Free Relay at 1:29.37—just two hundredths of a second out of fourth.
Friday will begin with preliminary rounds of the 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast and 100 Back events (10:30 a.m.). Belanger will take her best shot at her second title in as many days when she takes on the 3-Meter at 12:15 p.m. Each final will take place during the 6 p.m. session, which will wrap with the 400 Medley Relay.
TEAM RANKINGS – THROUGH EVENT 7
1. Stanford - 611.5
2. California - 510.5
3. Arizona State - 354
4. Arizona - 302.5
5. UCLA - 288.5
6. USC - 270
7. Utah - 155
8. Washington State - 142
9. Oregon State - 87