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Junior Kim Vandenberg leads a contingent of Bruins to the NCAA Championships this weekend. She is

Capturing a title that had eluded a Bruin swimmer for some time, Katie Arnold became the 2005 Pac-10 champion in the 100-meter backstroke, out-touching the competition and breaking her own school record in the process.

With a time of 53.22 at the Pac-10 Championships in Federal Way, Wash., three weeks ago, the sophomore is now the second-fastest swimmer in the nation in the backstroke going into Thursday’s NCAA Championships in Indiana.

“Winning first place in the Pac-10s is a big deal, and that hasn’t happened in a while,” UCLA coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “Arnold is awesome.”

The Bruins are also expected to have strong showings in the individual events, with opportunities to capture titles from a number of swimmers.

Junior Kim Vandenberg was narrowly edged out for the Pac-10 title in the 200m butterfly against her rival from Stanford, but will have the opportunity to face her this weekend in Indiana.

“Kim knows what she has to do to win,” Gallagher said.

Though Vandenberg is the most experienced member of the team, swimmers like Arnold also have a strong chance at scoring points this weekend.

“Vandenberg may be a little more experienced than Arnold,” Gallagher said, “but Arnold will do great. She has a lot of talent, knows how to do her job, and she will certainly swim fast.”

While the Bruins individually had a good outing to secure fourth place in the conference championships, Gallagher thinks that the relay team may struggle this weekend.

“Our relays aren’t as good this year as they were last year,” Gallagher said. “We don’t have high expectations, but maybe we’ll get lucky, and that would be awesome.”

Last year at the NCAA Championships, the Bruins placed seventh. In that meet, all five of the relays swum by the Bruins secured points.

“You need to have all five relays scoring in the top 10 to have a chance to win,” Gallagher said. “We don’t have that this year and that limits us.”