Ashley Kolessar Doubles as UCLA Tops Arizona
The UCLA Bruins grabbed a big Pac-12 win Saturday as they knocked off the women from the University of Arizona in a Tucson dual meet by five points, 152-147. The result was in doubt throughout, but UCLA locked up the victory with a 1-2 finish in the second-to-last event, the 400 IM, where Paige Maceachern won in 4:13.92 and Rosie Murphy touched one hundredth behind (4:15.93). That combined with Ashley Kolessar’s fourth-place finish supplied UCLA with 15 points, allowing the Bruins to hold on and win even after Arizona’s 1-2 finish in the meet-concluding 400 free relay.
Kolessar had multiple wins for UCLA, topping the field in the 1000 freestyle (9:56.99) and 500 freestyle (4:49.70), edging out Arizona’s Tia Lindsay by less than three tenths in the 20-lap race. Ana Jih-Schiff finished first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.43, with teammates Sarah Bennetts (1:00.67) and Eva Carlson (1:00.84) completing a 1-2-3 sweep. The same trio swept the 200 breast as well, with Jih-Schiff going 2:11.78 to beat Bennetts (2:14.29) and Carlson (2:14.86).
Brooke Schaffer was the top finisher in the 50 free, beating out Arizona’s Julia Wozniak by one hundredth, 22.95 to 22.96. Rosie Murphy won the 200 backstroke in 1:57.03, and Zoe Jespersgaard was the winner in 3-meter diving (325.28).
The Wildcats’ team of Paige Armstrong, Maddy Ahluwalia, Julia Heimstead and Maryam Sheikhalizdehkhangh won the 200 medley relay in 1:38.45. Heimstead won both the 200 free (1:46.19) and 100 free (49.19), and Armstrong took first in the 100 back (53.96). Emma Kinsey won the 200 butterfly (1:57.53) and 100 butterfly (53.50). Arizona’s Brooke Earley won 1-meter diving (282.38), and Lindsay, Heimstead, Elisabeth Timmer and Wozniak provided the top time in the 400 free relay at 3:15.82.