By Sarah Lloyd, Swimming World College Intern
The UCLA Bruins brought their A-game on Saturday January 16 when they defeated Boise State and Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Utes proved to be no match for the Bruins, who came away with an crushing victory of 182-95. The Broncos, however, did not go down as easily, as the Bruins came up with the win by a narrow margin of 133-128.
A UCLA team of Linnea Mack, Emma Schanz, Katie Kinnear, and Katie Grover started off the day with a second place finish in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:44.31. Junior Michaela Merlihan took first in the 1000 free (10:24.53), while freshman teammate Sandra Soe tied for second-place in the 1000 with Boise State sophomore Amelia Draney (10:26.93). With a 1:53.30, freshman Caroline McTaggart finished third in the 200 free behind two Boise State swimmers. The junior Mack then took second in the 100 back (55.74), about a half-second behind Boise State senior Sam Wicks. Mack would later take third in the 50 free (24.20).
The momentum started back up with freshman Schanz’s win in the 100 breast (1:05.18), which was quickly followed by a UCLA sweep in the 200 fly, led by the senior Kinnear (2:02.62) and completed by junior Madison White (2:04.41) and sophomore MP Delisle (2:06.42). McTaggart took the 100 free with a 51.77 and Schanz took a second personal victory when she won the 200 breast (2:17.76). The final victory for the Bruins came in the 400 IM, where senior Arlyn Upshaw won in a 4:27.97.
Full Results:2016 UCLA/Boise State/Utah – Results
The UCLA Bruins are back in action January 29 and 30 when they host conference rival Stanford in a Pac-12 televised event.