UCLA Women Capture First Victory Under New Head Coach Jordan Wolfrum

UCLA vs USD vs San Diego State

• September 13th, 2019, San Diedo California
• USD Pentathlon meet
• Results

The UCLA Bruins came out on top against the University of San Diego and San Diego State at the USD Pentathlon meet on Friday. The athletes raced each of the stroke 100s, along with the 100 IM and were scored based on the aggregate time of the 5 events. Following the 100s, they competed in the 4 stroke 50s. With athletes from 3 different schools, 66 competed in all 5 100s and UCLA finished first with the two best performances of the meet coming from seniors Kenisha Liu (4:51.64) and Amy Okada (4:54.16). Third place at the meet went to San Diego State’s Elli Ferrin with a time of 5:03.72.

Top Eight Finishers

1. Kenisha Liu, UCLA (4:51.64)
2. Amy Okada, UCLA (4:54.16)
3. Elli Ferrin, SDSU (5:03.72)
4. McKenna Meyer, SDSU (5:04.75)
5. Evonne Stehr, SDSU (5:04.95)
6. Claire Grover, UCLA (5:05.56)
7. Alma Thormalm, SDSU (5:06.53)
8. Delaney Smith, UCLA (5:08.11)

Kenisha Liu boasted 5 impressive performances to end with the fastest combined time. She placed first in the 100 IM, with second place finishes in the 100 free, fly and breast, and a tie for fourth in the 100 back. Liu had a strong 2018/2019 season, qualifying for NCAAs in the 200 free, 200 IM and 100 free and finishing 43rd, 44th and 28th, respectively. She also set a school record in the 200 free relay along with Claire Grover, Amy Okada, and Maisie Jameson at the Pac-12 Championships.

UCLA freshman Sophia Kosturos claimed titles in the 100 free and 100 back and had third place finishes in both the 100 fly and 100 IM but did not make the top eight overall due to her 69th place finish in the 100 breast. Additional event winners from UCLA were Amy Okada (100 fly) and Claire Grover (100 breast).

With the best overall time from any freshman in the field, SDSU’s Evonne Stehr proved her strong versatility at the pentathlon meet. The Spokane, Washington native finished 5th overall, just ahead of UCLA’s Claire Grover, with a time of 5:04.95. Her best individual 100 was the IM, in which she placed 6th in a 1:00.86.

The host team, University of San Diego finished in third place at the pentathlon meet, their top performers being Callie Johnson (26th) and Kailyn Evans (27th). Individually, Ellie Elena tied SDSU’s Elli Ferrin for 14th place in the 100 breast in a time of 1:10.42.

This victory for the Bruins served as a successful first meet for new head coach Jordan Wolfrum, who took over at UCLA after serving as Associate Head Coach at Ohio State for the past five years. Wolfrum brings plenty of experience to the team having additionally coached for Division 3 school College of Saint Benedict in Collegeville, MN, along with NCAA powerhouse team, the Stanford Cardinals. Wolfrum succeeds former head coach Cydni Gallagher who has joined Kaitlin Sandeno‘s all-female coaching staff for the DC Trident in the newly formed ISL. Wolfrum is taking over for the Bruins after Gallagher’s 31 year ride with the team, which included 9 top ten NCAA finishes.

UCLA finished the 2018/2019 season with a 6th place finish within the PAC-12 conference and a 17th place finish at NCAAs. The Bruins will follow their first victory of the season with the Blue vs. Gold Intrasquad in Los Angeles on October 4th.