The UCLA Bruins took care of business on senior day, winning 11 of 16 events to win a triangular battle with the Big 12’s Kansas Jayhawks and the MPSF’s San Diego Toreros.
Sophomore Linnea Mack won twice for the Bruins, continuing her strong second season in the Pac-12. We noted how impressive Mack was at Winter Nationals, and the versatile budding star only kept her momentum going in this triangular.
Mack won the 50 free in 23.16 (about seven tenths better than the field) and the 100 fly in 55.20, beating tough teammate Katie Kinnear in the latter race.
That 50 free was a 1-2-3 sweep for UCLA, part of a devasting Bruins run through the middle of the meet.
That 50 free came on the heels of another sweep in the 200 fly, with Katie Grover leading the way in 2:02.29. And directly after the 50, the Bruin diving corps went 1-2 on 3-meter, led by Ciara Monahan‘s 260.63. (Monahan would go on to win 3-meter competition later in the evening).
Finally, senior Monica Dornick led a 1-2-3 of her own on senior night, going 51.41 with Grover in tow in the 100 free.
Sophomore Madison White was on both winning relays, leading off the 200 medley and swimming second on the 200 free. The free relay saw Grover lead off, followed by White, freshman Sarah Kaunitz and Dornick. They went 1:34.84.
The medley relay saw junior Alison Wine and Noelle Tarazona get involved, along with Mack. The team of White, Wine (those first two might double as one of the best relay-name-combinations in swimming right now…), Tarazona and Mack went 1:43.31 to give the Bruins an early lead.
Kansas put up a fight, though, taking the 5 events that UCLA couldn’t win. That was mostly a combination of junior star Chelsie Miller and sophomore Yulya Kuchkarova of Uzbekistan.
Miller won the first and last individual races of the meet, going 10:05.43 in the 1000 free and 4:20.93 in the 400 IM. In between, she narrowly missed a third win, taking second in the 500 behind UCLA’s rising distance star Katy Campbell, 4:55.54 to 4:56.58.
Meanwhile Kuchkarova swept the backstrokes, going 56.81 to beat UCLA’s Noelle Tarazona in the 100 and 2:02.75 to take the 200 later on.
Also winning for Kansas was Bryce Hinde, who claimed the 200 breast in 2:20.99.
San Diego’s top finisher was junior Sarah Reierson, who tied for third in the 100 back with a 58.02. Also placing high was junior Jackie Taylor (4th in the 100 free at 52.99) and Christina Jonsson (5th in the 200 breast at 2:26.06).
UCLA also got a 200 free win from freshman Carly Reid (1:51.57) and a 100 breast victory from senior Jessica Khojasteh (1:03.61).
The final scores of all three duals:
- UCLA 168, Kansas 126
- UCLA 154, San Diego 83
- Kansas 158.5, San Diego 89.5
Mack is such a stud, despite what some might think is as an odd culture on the UCLA team.