The Arizona women’s swimming and diving team claimed a victory in its first Pac-12 meet of the year defeating UCLA in a close meet, 160-140 at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. The Cats improved to 2-0 while UCLA received its first dual-meet loss of the season.
Arizona claimed the first event of the day, finishing first and second in the 200 medley relay. The team of Annie Ochitwa, Emma Schoettmer, Mackenzie Rumrill and Taylor Schick took first with a time of 1:40.37. Taylor Garcia, Sara Borendame, Paige Kremer and Katrina Konopka followed with 1:42.39.
Brandon then went to take a dominating victory in the 1000 free, finishing with a time of 10:02.59. She later finished first in the 500 free (4:53.36) followed by teammate Sarah Shimomura (4:55.49).
In the 200 free, Schick placed first with 1:49.30 while Shimomura took third with 1:50.36. Garcia later finished third in the 100 back (54.80) followed by Cameron McHugh (55.56) and Jenna Bauer (57.40).
Schoettmer finished first in the 100 breast and 200 breast with time of 1:01.73 and 2:13.48, respectively. Borendame took second in the 100 breast (1:03.88) and third in the 200 breast (2:19.34).
In the 50 free, Kremer finished first with 23.19 followed by Konopka with 23.32. Kremer also took first in a tight race in the 100 free against UCLA’s Caroline McTaggart, winning by .08 of a second. Konopka placed third in the event with 50.25.
McHugh then took second in the 200 back with a time of 1:58.51 followed by teammate Ochitwa with 2:00.83. The Cats took the last event of the day as the relay team of Konopka, Kremer, Brandon and Schick won the 200 free relay (1:31.65). The team of Garcia, Ashley Sutherland, Ali Powell and Shimomura finished third with 1:34.56.
In diving, Kaitlin Costello took second in the 3-meter with a score of 265.35. Sally Hackett finished third in 1-meter with 256.80.
Both the men and women’s team will face USC Sat. Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
UCLA
UCLA diver Maria Polyakova won both diving events at Friday’s dual meet against Arizona. The sophomore has swept the diving events at both meets in which she has competed so far this season.
Polyakova and teammate Annika Lenz finished first and second in the 1-meter event, respectively. Polyakova posted a 296.03 while Lenz tallied a score of 262.58.
Between the lane lines, the Bruins went 1, 2, 3 in the 200 Fly. Katie Kinnear led the pack with a 2:00.70, edging teammate Katie Grover by .02 seconds. Arlyn Upshaw swam a 2:02.74 to finish third. In the 100 Back, Linnea Mack and Madison White took the top two spots. Mack finished first with a 54.14, with White close behind at 54.23.
For the second-straight meet, White won the 200 Back. Last time out, the junior swam a 1:58.95 against UCSB and Oregon State. Shaving just over two seconds off her time on Friday, White posted a 1:56.73 against the Wildcats.
Freshman Caroline McTaggart nabbed another first-place finish, this time in the 200 Free. The Bruin swam a 1:48.95 in the event. This was McTaggart’s second-straight win in the 200 Free, as she posted the top mark against UCSB and Oregon State as well.
Overall, the Bruins fell to the Wildcats, 160-140.
Next up, the Bruins head to Tempe to take on the Sun Devils on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. PST at Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex. The Sun Devils are coming off of a 181-117 win over UNLV and a 115-90 loss to Washington State.
