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Junior Nicolette Teo captured several individual victories this weekend as the Bruins defeated Ar

The No. 12 UCLA swim team entered this weekend with a daunting task: back-to-back dual meets, with the second against the No. 4 Arizona Wildcats.

The Bruins outswam Arizona State on Friday, but couldn’t overcome Arizona’s speedy squad.

“Arizona can win NCAAs this year. That’s how talented they are,” UCLA coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “They have a lot of superstars.”

Many of Arizona’s swimmers shone brightly against UCLA, as the Bruins saw their undefeated record tarnished by the 170-127 loss.

Before the loss to the Wildcats, the Bruins (4-1, 2-1 Pac-10) began their weekend with a 178-116 victory against Arizona State. The Bruins experienced an early lead in the diving events and never looked back.

The divers began the meet with a sweep in the 1-meter event. Sophomore Marisa Samaniego finished first while senior Sara Clark placed second and senior Amanda Blong took third. Clark recorded a victory in 3-meter competition, with Samaniego placing third.

“The divers did an outstanding job,” Gallagher said. “It’s nice to know before the first race goes that you’re already ahead.”

After gaining the early advantage, the Bruins went on to win 12 of the next 16 races. They also recorded five NCAA Championship-qualifying marks.

“It’s really nice to see results so early in the season,” junior Nicolette Teo said. “It feels good to know that our hard work is paying off.”

Teo, senior Katie Nelson, and sophomore Anna Poteete led the UCLA pack with two wins each.

“You can always count on Katie Nelson to win,” Gallagher said. “And Nicolette – she doesn’t even think about it too much, but just goes out there, swims, and wins.”

On Saturday’s meet against the Wildcats, Nelson and Teo again led the way, but in the first half of the meet no other Bruins seemed to follow. Even with victories in the 1000m freestyle by Nelson and in the 100m breaststroke by Teo, the Bruins fell behind early in the meet.

“We came out intimidated,” Nelson said.

The Bruins watched the meet quickly slip through their fingers. They then met as a team during a break and regrouped.

“We knew we had to kick it up a notch,” Nelson said. “Arizona swimmers are American record holders, but we need to not focus on that and not be scared to swim our own races.”

After the break, the Bruins snapped out of their trance and began to compete the way they had been all season. Although the UCLA swimmers couldn’t muster any more victories, they refused to go down without a fight.

“In the first half, we were focused on how good Arizona is instead of how good we are,” Gallagher said. “In the second half, we decided that there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be here to race and compete.”

The Bruins displayed their renewed vigor in the 400m IM. Junior Chiemi Yamamoto trailed Arizona’s Jenny Forster and Caitlin Iversen for the first 350 meters but accelerated to take the lead in the final 50. The three swimmers rotated taking the lead in the last 25 yards, until Yamamoto finally took third, only .77 seconds behind a victorious Forester.

“We definitely learned something about ourselves today,” Teo said. “We have a lot of heart, and we can step up – no matter who we’re swimming against.”