Thursday, November 21
Columbus, OH

UCLA

at

Ohio State Invitational

Emma Matous

Bruins Finish Fourth at Ohio State Invite

November 23, 2024 | Swimming & Diving

COLUMBUS, Ohio โ€“ The No. 24 UCLA swimming and diving team finished in fourth place at the Ohio State Invitational on Saturday. The Bruins finished with 16 top-eight finishes over the course of the weekend.

The Bruins finished in fourth place with a total of 1,053 points. UCLA finished behind No. 7 Louisville in third place and ahead of Notre Dame in fifth place. Indiana took the team title with a total of 2,526.5 points. ย ย 

Day Three Recap
In the finals session Rosie Murphy kicked things off with a fifth-place finish in the 200 backstroke, touching the wall in 1:54.36. Mia Chang took part in the 'B' final and finished 16th overall in 1:58.15.

Gizem Guvenc earned her fourth top-eight finish of the weekend in the 100 freestyle. She finished in a tie for fourth in 48.45, while Emma Harvey finished in 12th in 49.06. Morgan Hawes also finished 23rd in the event with a time of 50.09.

Three Bruins finished in the top 10 of the 200 breast during Saturday's finals session. Ana Jih-Schiff led the way for UCLA finishing in sixth in 2:12.29, while Eva Carlson finished right behind her in seventh in 2:12.59. Sarah Bennetts took ninth in 2:12.76, while Karolina Piechowicz placed second in the 'B' final to take 12th overall in 2:11.67.

As for the 200 fly, Paige MacEachern finished 1:58.88 to take ninth, while Ashley Kolessar touched the wall in 2:01.38 to finish 16th. Mia Chang also finished in the top 20, taking 18th in 2:01.99 for the Bruins.

As for the dive squad ย the Bruins took part in the platform competition on Saturday. Eden Cheng led the way for the Bruins, placing second in the event with a score of 301.50. Laura Fisher took ninth overall in the event with a score 244.40, while Maya Salvitti finished in 11th with a score of 236.90..

In the final event of the weekend for the Bruins 400 free relay of Harvey, Bennetts, Jih-Schiff and Guvenc capped off the meet in strong fashion for UCLA. The quartet finished fourth in the event in 3:14.69, which is a quarter of a second off of the school record.

Earlier in the morning, the Bruins took part in the prelims session, which started with the 100 back. In the event Rosie Murphy took sixth place in the prelims to advance to the 'A' final, finishing in 1:55.28. Mia Chang also did well, finishing in 11th to earn the top seed in the 'B' final, while freshman Claudia Yovanovich placed 26th in 2:00.32 to take 26th and a spot in the 'C' final.

Gizem Guvenc and Emma Harvey continued their great weekends with another NCAA 'B' Cut qualification time in the 100 free in the next event. Guvenc finished fifth in prelims in 48.82 to advance to the 'A' final, while Harvey took 11th to earn the top spot in the 'B' final. Morgan Hawes earned a spot in the 'C' final as well after placing 22nd in 50.53, as did Josie Arbuckle and Alexis Schaffer who placed 26th and 27th in the event.

ย The Bruins placed four athletes in the top 12 of the 200 breast on Saturday. Eva Carlson, Ana Jih-Schiff, and Sarah Bennetts finished in sixth, seventh and ninth to qualify for the 'A' final, while Karolina Piechowicz took 12th to make the 'B' final. All four Bruins finished under the NCAA 'B' cut of 2:13.86. Paige MacEachern also earned a spot in the 'B' final after placing 18th in 2:15.43.

In the final prelims event of the morning, the 200 fly, MacEachern earned a spot in her first 'A' final of the day, finishing 10th in 1:59.77. Mia Chang and Ashley Kolessar placed 14th and 16th to earn spots in the 'B' final, while Angela Quan finished 25th in 2:03.38 to qualify for the 'C' final.

Day Two Recap
The Bruins kicked off the finals session on Friday with a bang in the 200 yard medley relay. The quartet of Lustria, Carlson, Harvey, and Jih-Schiff finished fourth in 1:36.69. That time is .05 of a second off the school record in the event.

Harvey followed that with her first individual event podium as a Bruin in the 100 butterfly. The transfer from Penn State claimed second place in the discipline in 51.89, finishing just behind Miranda Grana of Indiana.

As for the 400 IM the Bruins had two top-10 finishes on Friday afternoon. Paige MacEachern posted UCLA's second silver medal finish of the day by taking second place in 4:09.31, shaving nearly three seconds off of her prelims time. Rosie Murphy also took part in the 'A' final and finished 10th in 4:16.67.

A trio of Bruins finished in the top eight in the 100 breast on Friday afternoon. UCLA's Karolina Piechowicz led the way in fifth place with a time of 1:00.15, while Eva Carlson finished right behind her in sixth in 1:00.28. Ana Jih-Schiff rounded out the Bruins in eighth with a time of 1:00.39.

In the 100 backstroke Harvey continued her big day with another top eight finish for the Bruins. The grad transfer took fifth in the discipline in 52.78.

On the diving boards, Molly Brascia paced the Bruins on Friday afternoon. She took eighth place in the 1-meter dive competition with a score of 283.85.

To wrap up day two UCLA's 800 free relay 'A' team of Guvenc, Hawes, Bennetts, and MacEachern took eighth place in 7:15.84. ย ย ย 

Earlier on in the day in the morning preliminary session, Harvey kicked things off with the first 'A' final qualifier in the first event, the 100 fly. The senior took third in the prelims in 51.98 and finished under the NCAA'B' cut as well. Mia Chang finished 19th in the event to qualify for the 'B' final in 54.21, while Amy Zhang and Angela Quan finished in 25th and 27th to earn spots in the 'C' final.

In the 400 IM Paige MacEachern and Rosie Murphy both went under the NCAA 'B' Cut and qualified for the 'A' final. MacEachern finished third in 4:12.29, while Murphy placed seventh in 4:14.79. Senior Emma Matous finished 18th to take 18th place and a spot on the 'B' final. Additionally, Ashley Kolessar took 21st in 4:20.83 to earn the top spot in the 'C' final.

Gizem Guvenc paced the Bruins in the 200 free, finishing in sixth, qualifying for the 'A' final, and hit the NCAA 'B' standard by touching the wall in 1:46.08. Morgan Hawes and Josie Arbuckle finished in 21st and 27th, respectively, to qualify for the 'C' final.

The Bruins were most dominant in the 100 breaststroke on Friday morning, with four Bruins qualifying for the 'A' final in the event. Freshman Karolina Piechowicz was the top Bruin finisher in fifth place in 1:00.17, Eva Carlson took eighth in 1:00.51, Bennetts was ninth in 1:00.53, while Jih-Schiff finished 10th in 1:01.15. All four Bruins also finished under the NCAA'B' cut time.

Emma Harvey wrapped up prelims for the Bruins with a fifth-place finish in the 100 backstroke. The senior finished in 52.73 seconds earning her second NCAA 'B' cut of the session. Junior Rosie Murphy finished in 14th, Fay Lustria took 17th and Mia Chang finished in 18th to all earn spots in the 'B' final.ย ย 

Day One Recap
In the first event of Thursday's final session, the Bruins' A team in the 200-yard freestyle relay finished in fifth place in the 'A' final with a time of 1:29.17. The team consisted of Emma Harvey, Ana Jih-Schiff, Gizem Guvenc, and Sarah Bennetts. The B team consisting of Claudia Yovanovich, Josie Arbuckle, Alexis Schaffer, and Joanie Cash finished in twelfth with a time of 1:31.78.

In the 200 IM, senior Paige Maceachern finished in fifth place in the 'A' final with a time of 1:58.25, her second NCAA B cut of the day. Senior Ana Jih-Schiff also achieved an NCAA B cut, finishing in eighth place with a time of 1:58.42. In the 'B' final, Rosie Murphy finished in 13th place with a time of 1:58.14. Eva Carlson finished in 24th place in the event with a time of 2:01.24, while Emma Matous took 29th in 2:02.94. Ashley Kolessar finished in 37th place in the 200 IM with a time of 2:03.07.

UCLA also found success in the finals of the 50 freestyle. Emma Harvey finished the 'A' final in 8th place with a time of 22.49, coming in under the NCAA B-cut time. Jih-Schiff took 19th place in the 'B' final with a time of 23.01. In the 'C' final, Sarah Bennetts took 24th place with a time of 22.97, Josie Arbuckle took 25th with a time of 23.03, and Claudia Yovanovich followed in 26th place with a time of 23.08. Amy Zhang took 37th place in the event with a time of 23.42.

In the 400 medley relay final, the Bruins' A team of Fay Lustria, Carlson, Harvey, and Guvenc finished in fourth place with a time of 3:34.06.

In the morning preliminary session, 15 Bruins earned spots in the finals of their particular events. In the first event of the day, the 500 free, Ashley Kolessar and Gizem Guvenc earned spots in the 'B' final after finishing in 15th in 4:48.64 and 17th place in 4:49.94, while Beril Bocekler placed 21st in 4:53.18 to earn a spot in the 'C' final.ย 

The Bruins earned their first 'A' finalists in the second session of the morning when Jih-Schiff and MacEachern finished in third and fifth, respectively. Jih-Schiff touched the wall in 1:57.69, while MacEachern finished in 1:58.19, both under the NCAA 'B' cut qualifying time.ย  Junior Rosie Murphy earned a spot in the 'B' final with another NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:59.01. Eva Carlson also qualified for a final by placing 21st in 2:00.88, as did Emma Matous who finished 25th with a time of 2:01.60.

As for the 50 free prelims, Harvey earned UCLA's third 'A' final of the morning when she finished sixth in UCLA's fourth NCAA 'B' cut time of the session, finishing in 22.34. Jih-Schiff continued her strong morning session with a 20th place finish and a 'B' final appearance, while Guvenc took 22nd in 22.86 to earn a spot in the 'C' final. Sarah Bennetts and Claudia Yovanovich also earned spots in the 'C' final after placing 28th and 30th in prelims. Josie Arbuckle and Amy Zhang rounded out the Bruins to make finals in the 50 free by placing 32nd and 40th to earn spots in the 'D' final.

Up Next: The UCLA Swimming and Diving team returns to action December 16-18 at the UNLV Invite in Las Vegas.
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Players Mentioned

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