Freshmen change pool into fountain of youth

Published: Monday, September 28, 1998

Monday, September 28, 1998

PREVIEW: Swimming, dive team stocked with 20 energetic newcomers

By Steve Kim

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Yesterday's mature blooms have disappeared - a new crop of fruit is emerging from the branches of UCLA women's swimming and diving teams. This season's crop of freshmen has arrived in volume, just beginning its process of ripening.

The majority of the time, freshmen are left out of the competitive factor. But with freshmen taking 20 out of 35 places on the swim team and three out of six diving positions, they are going to be a hard group to ignore this year. And since swimming and diving teams are combined as one entity under NCAA guidelines, the two Bruin sports will demand every team member's hard effort, freshman or not.

Just how did the swimming team end up with so many new fishes?

"Last year's team did a great job of recruiting, and we recruited a little more than usual because we had eight swimmers graduating," said head coach Cyndi Gallagher. "It'll be great because the freshmen are a big, positive group. There's power in numbers."

With a lot of communication and some adjustments, Gallagher said having such a big group can be used for the team's advantage.

"It'll make everyone a little more honest," she said. "For example, an upperclassman is not going to be sleeping in for morning practice because there are plenty of freshmen to take her spot."

Freshman Ana Swanson, who had wanted to attend UCLA since seventh grade, realized some things were going to be different during her first practice with the team. She liked it nevertheless.

"I came from a really small swimming club, so it's cool to have a big team and lots of really good swimmers to push you," Swanson said. "You know that you'll improve."

Her freshman teammate, Jenn Noddle, agreed.

"Being surrounded by a lot of talent, there's a lot of people to learn from," said Noddle. "A lot of us are learning things we've never even heard of before, so it's pretty exciting."

With so many freshmen present, upperclassmen could have been on the defensive, but returning members say there's no tension.

"The team's transformed because there's less upperclassmen than freshmen," said team co-captain Emmanuelle Schick Garcia. "But everything's been so easy to deal with because they're all excited to be here and willing to try new things."

Swimmers gradually get better as they gain more experience in the water. Occasionally, a newcomer will turn heads with exceptional talent and performance. Gallagher hopes several members from this new group will break through and come out as faster swimmers.

"You never know what a freshman can do," she said. "There's a lot of talent there and it's exciting to see who's going to rise."

The team has its share of experienced swimmers. Junior Keiko Price will lead in sprint freestyle events, while junior Amber Wines replaces former senior Lindsay Etter in the breaststroke. Sophomore Beth Goodwin soared in the 100 fly late in the previous season and should keep her intensity up this year.

"We have more events covered than we did last year, like the 200 fly, IM's, breaststrokes," Schick Garcia said. "We had some fast swimmers graduate, but we're having some great replacements. So I think we're going to win more dual meets than last year."

The theme "new" spills over to the diving team. Besides three freshmen, the team has a new head coach, Tom Stebbins. Returning sophomores Anne Baghramian and Delilah More will provide a year's worth of experience, but Stebbins realizes the program needs to restart from square one.

"Everything was all kind of inherited," Stebbins said of his young team. "We're in a rebuilding phase right now. We want to have fun but we also want to succeed."

With a fresh season ahead, and a lot of fresh faces, the Bruins express optimism for the next few months. One clear goal is for them to do better in the NCAAs than last year's 13th place finish.

"We have high expectations of ourselves," said co-captain Amanda Hall. "We'll look toward the freshmen for their energy, and the returning members for their experience. Together, we're going to be a good combination."

Daily Bruin file photo

This year, UCLA's swimming and diving teams will be composed mainly of freshmen.

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