Junior diver Eloise Belanger, who qualified to compete in all three collegiate diving events, finished in 3rd place on platform at the NCAA Championships.
No. 21 UCLA (5-5-1, 2-4-1 Pac-12) sent seven swimmers and one diver off of its 36-person roster to the NCAA championships. The Bruins came in 26th place out of 45 teams competing in the championships with a final score of 31.
On day one of the contest, UCLA swimming took home a school-record in the 800-yard free relay with a time of 7:01.90, beating the previous school record by almost three seconds. The team, consisting of sophomore Kenisha Liu, senior Katie Grover, junior Sandra Soe and senior Margaux Verger Gourson, placed 14th in the race.
The Bruins ended day one in 14th place, with 6 points.
UCLA opened day two of the championships with the 200-yard free relay, in which the team, which consisted of Liu, Grover, senior Sarah Kaunitz and sophomore Amy Okada. finished just a half second short of the school record they set earlier this season.
On day two, distance swimmers Verger Gourson and Soe both competed in the 500-meter freestyle, and Liu and Shanz each swam in the 200-yard individual medley.
Belanger, the Bruin’s only diver to compete in NCAA championships, finished 20th in the preliminaries for 1-meter diving, missing a spot in the finals.
UCLA did not earn additional points, and was in the 29th place by the end of day two.
Liu competed in the 200-yard freestyle on day three, but did not advance beyond the preliminaries. Junior swimmer Emma Schanz swam in the 100-yard backstroke and did not qualify for finals. Grover returned on day three with a seventh-place finish in the B final of the 200-meter freestyle.
“As a senior this was pretty exciting,” Grover said. “It was my first time scoring individually, so it’s a personal accomplishment”
Belanger came in ninth in the 3-meter dive preliminaries and narrowly missed a spot in the A finals, but placed second in the B finals.
The Bruins finished day three in 28th place with 15 points.
On the final day of competition, Belanger landed 3rd place in the platform diving finals, earning 16 points for UCLA.
Distance swimmers Soe and Verger Gourson finished the 1,650-yard freestyle one after the other, coming in 31st and 32nd place, respectively.
Liu did not qualify for the 100-yard freestyle, Schanz did not qualify the 200-yard breaststroke, and Grover did not qualify for the 200-yard butterfly finals.
This competition marked the end of the Bruins’ season, and for the seniors, the end of collegiate competition.
“It’s definitely bittersweet,” Grover said. “It’s been a great four years and I’m super proud to be a Bruin. But I’m looking forward to taking the next step in my life as a swimmer.”