ARIZONA VS. UCLA
- November 1, 2019
- Tuscon, AZ
- Full Results
- Final Scores:
- UCLA 176, Arizona 124
In a Pac-12 matchup Friday afternoon hosted by Arizona, the visiting UCLA Bruins took the win in a competitive meet.
Rachel Rhee, a UCLA freshman, had a huge swim in the 100 free, clocking a 50.66 for a win out of the first diving break, beating Arizona’s Kayla Filipek (51.19) who had won the 50 free earlier (23.23) over UCLA’s Claire Grover (23.31). What’s more, Rhee’s previous season-best was a 52.51 from three weeks ago in a dual meet against Utah, and she came close to her lifetime best of 50.36 from 2017.
Rhee was also fourth in the 100 breast (1:03.66), an event won by Grover at 1:01.44. Grover had the best breast split in the 200 medley relay field (27.96) to lift UCLA to the win over Arizona, 1:40.62 to 1:41.15, despite Filipek’s 22.44 anchor.
UCLA seniors Kenisha Liu and Amy Okada were both double winners for the Bruins. Liu showed versatility with a victory in the 200 free (1:49.64) and then the 200 breast (2:15.63), while her 22.79 split on the 200 free relay tied with Grover for the best in the field. Okada hit the wall first in both butterfly events, going 54.71 in the 100 and 1:59.24 in the 200. Freshman Sophia Kosturos also snagged a win, going 54.02 to edge Arizona sophomore Aria Bernal (54.33).
Arizona struck back with a win in the longer backstroke race, as freshman Axana Merckx won the 200 in 1:57.82 ahead of Kosturos’s 1:58.05.
The heavy hitter for Arizona was senior Hannah Cox, who swam three of the toughest individual races and won all three. She was first 10:01.24 to take the 1000 free in a 1-2 finish with teammate Ayumi Macias (10:04.11), then she was 4:53.95 to lead a Wildcat 1-2-3 with Kirsten Jacobsen (4:55.18) and Macias (4:56.40), and finally she clocked a 4:19.74 to win the 400 IM.
UCLA won both 1-meter (Ruby Neave – 271.95) and 3-meter (Alice Yanovsky – 264.15), and closed out the meet on top in the 200 free relay as Liu, Grover, and Kosturos (22.94) all went under 23.0 on their splits to combine with Maisie Jameson‘s 23.44 lead-off to win it (1:31.96).
Get after it, Jordan Wolfrum.