UCLA
Stanford
UCLA Faces Pair of Top-5 Opponents in Stanford, Cal
January 31, 2019 | Swimming & Diving
The No. 20-ranked UCLA swimming and diving team (8-0) heads to the Bay Area this weekend for a pair of dual meets against Pac-12 rivals Stanford and California. Both schools are ranked in the top-five nationwide, as Stanford currently occupies the No. 3 slot in the CSCAA Top-25 while Cal is at No. 4. ย
The Bruins start the road trip with a 2:00 p.m. showdown against the Cardinal (4-0) on Friday, Feb. 1. That contest will be broadcasted on the internet in a Pac-12 Plus live stream. UCLA returns to action the following afternoon, Saturday, Feb. 2 for a 12:00 meet at Cal (5-1).
With eight straight dual meet wins to start the year, the Bruins are off to their best start since the 2012-13 season. UCLA went 5-0 in the month of January, reeling off wins against San Diego, Harvard, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and Oregon State.
Most recently, the Bruins trounced Oregon State 160-93 on Saturday, Jan. 19 while UCLA divers won all three events at the Bruin Diving Invitational from Jan. 18-20.
Against the Beavers, a UCLA swimmer or relay had the top time in all 14 events. Senior Sandra Soe (500 free, 1000 free), junior Amy Okada (200 free, 50 free), and junior Kenisha Liu (200 breast, 200 IM) all won multiple events while freshman Emma Smethurst (100 breast), freshman Allison Goldblatt (200 fly), and sophomore Isabella Barattolo (100 free) all nailed down their first collegiate victories.
The Bruin Diving Invitational capped off a banner month of January for UCLA's divers. Bruins swept the weekend โ the field featured about 60 divers on the women's side and another 40 on the men's side โ with Maria Polyakova winning the 3-meter championship on Friday before Eloise Belanger won the platform and 1-meter championships on the following two days.
Polyakova's Friday performance in the 3m final set a new Dirks Pool record at 375.75, giving her the second pool record of her senior season (355.50 in 1m, set Nov. 3, 2018 vs. Arizona State). Belanger was second in 3m with a combined score of 663.80, but bounced back to claim first in both platform (539.90) and 1m (609.70). The 1m championship featured a back-and-forth battle between Belanger and Stanford's Carolina Sculti, who finished 5.60 points behind Belanger.
Polyakova was recently named the Pac-12 Diver of the Week for the period of Jan. 1-20, her second conference honor of the season. Belanger, who made her 2018-19 UCLA debut during the Bruin Diving Invitational, qualified for NCAA Zones in all three events in one fell swoop. Traci Shiver (sixth in platform, 477.45) and Traci Yanovsky (11th in 3m, 555.35) also reached finals at the Bruin Diving Invite.
Stanford is an undefeated 4-0 on the season, defeating common opponents with UCLA in Utah (191-101), Arizona (195-99), and Arizona State (198-96). The Cardinal also finished first out of 13 teams in the Ohio State Invite in November. Cal meanwhile is 5-1, with its only loss coming to top-ranked Texas. Stanford and Cal finished 1-2 in team scores at the 2018 Division I Women's Swimming and Diving NCAA Championships. ย
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