Jan. 28, 2000
LOS ANGELES - The 15th-ranked UCLA women's swimming and diving team posted its first-ever dual meet victory over No. 3 Stanford on Friday afternoon, earning a 154-145 triumph over the Cardinal at Men's Gym Pool. The dual was contested in short course, meters.
The Bruins got off to a hot start, placing first and third in the opening event, as the team of Nicole Beck, Jen Noddle, Beth Goodwin and Keiko Price put together a 1:54.19 to win the 200 Medly Relay. Although Stanford won the next three events, the meet was tied 37-37 after the 100 Back.
Led by Jen Noddle's B-standard NCAA qualifying time of 1:11.09 win in the 200 Fly, UCLA re-took the lead by a 50-43 margin. Stanford's Misty Hyman posted an A-standard time of 2:10.85 to win the 200 Fly, before Bruin senior Keiko Price took the stage. Price won her first event, the 50 Free comfortably with a B-standard time of 25.81, and the Bruins took a 71-60 lead into the first intermission.
Diving competition was contested at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center, as part of the two-day Bruin Diving Invitational. UCLA earned second, third and fifth places in the one-meter competition, giving UCLA a 79-71 lead when competition at Men's Gym Pool resumed.
Price went right back to the blocks for the 100 Free, and won her second individual event of the day in 56.72, and giving UCLA a 90-78 cushion. Hyman answered with a win in the 200 Back, after which the team score was 98-89 in UCLA's favor.
The two teams continued to trade event wins, with Noddle taking the 200 Breast for UCLA, Jessica Foschi winning the 400 Free for Stanford, and Hyman matching the A-standard time of 1:00.81 in winning the 100 Fly.
Going in to the second intermission, the team score was UCLA 126, Stanford 118. A call to the Rose Bowl yielded the results of the 3-Meter competition, which gave the Cardinal a 132-131 lead heading into the final two events.
Bruin freshman Stacy Kearney led a 1-3-5 UCLA finish in the 200 IM, closing the gap to 143-139 in Stanford's favor, meaning that the final event of the 200 Free Relay would decide the meet.
The team of Keiko Price, Erica Shugart, Beth Goodwin and LeAnne Cadag put together an impressive performance in that final event, winning in 1:45.05. Although the team competition was decided at that point, the drama would not end, as UCLA's second team of Brighid Dwyer, Beth Boehm, Jie Lee and Erin Zehntner out-touched the Stanford squad of Jessica Foschi, Amber Rais, Sarah Umetsu and Alexis Oakland by a 1:50.18-1:50.37 margin.
"We had some outstanding swims today, and a total team effort today," said UCLA head coach Cyndi Gallagher. "We started off with the 200 Medly relay where we finished first and third, and we just went on from there.
"Senior Keiko Price led the team as she always does, and she won all of the races she was in- both relays and the 50 and 100 Freestyles. We had Julia Voitovitsch almost with the 100 Fly against Misty Hyman, who is the top ranked person in that event in the country, and Julia also had a great 200 IM. Our butterfliers, Jen Noddle and Julia Voitovitsch, went 1-2 in both the 100 and 200 butterfly. It was a great team effort, and we're looking forward to swimming Cal tomorrow."
The Bruin swimming and diving team returns to action tomorrow, hosting Cal at Noon at Men's Gym Pool.