• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

WOMEN'S SWIMMING Saturday, 1 p.m. v. USC McDonalds Swim Stadium

Last year, the Trojans played dirty. This year, the Bruins are out to make them pay.

The No. 16 UCLA women’s swim and dive team will travel across town to USC for its final dual meet of the season as it faces the No. 14 Trojans this Saturday at 1 p.m.

Last season’s showdown between the two teams is still fresh in the Bruins’ memory. USC stooped down low to pull out a 177-123 victory over UCLA.

“We showed up at USC, and when they walked out, they were wearing fastskins,” UCLA coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “It was kind of like a ‘screw you’ moment.”

Fastskins are swimsuits that use high technology fabric to mimic the skin texture of sharks to increase speed in the water. It is understood between coaches in the Pac-10 that fastskins are only to be used in the Pac-10 Championships and the NCAA tournament. However, the Trojans not only used the fastskins, they also did not inform the Bruins beforehand they were doing so.

“They didn’t even have the courtesy to tell us they were going to use fastskins,” Gallagher said. “Usually you would, so that both teams could wear them to make it fair.”

The bitter taste from last year’s meet compounds the Bruins’ already heated rivalry with the women of Troy.

Because the Bruins (6-3, 2-3 Pac-10) and the Trojans (5-3, 3-3 Pac-10) are such an evenly matched team, UCLA expects the competition to be fierce.

“Every single event is going to be close,” Fuccillo said. “Whoever wants it more is going to win.”

The first event of the day is the 200 Yard Medley Relay. The Bruins will thus need to work as a team if they want to pick up the first victory and start the meet in their favor.

“I truly believe that every single person who steps up on the block can be the person to step up for us,” Fuccillo said. “It’d be great if we all did it.”

For Fuccillo and all the other seniors, this meet has special significance. Not only is it the last dual meet of their college careers, but it will also decide whether they will leave UCLA with a winning record against the Trojans. Although the Bruins fell to USC last year, they defeated the Trojans two years in a row prior to that.

“Beating them when I was a sophomore at their own pool was the greatest feeling ever,” Nelson said. “It would be like the cherry on top of the cake if we took three out of four from them.”

For the seniors, the intense rivalry has grown throughout the past four years, and Saturday’s meet will be the climatic end.

“It’d be that much sweeter to beat them as a senior,” senior Jane Imagane said. “Every year you appreciate more and more how much of a rivalry this is.”

The Bruins will use the growing rivalry as motivation to swim to their fullest abilities.

“As much as you hate them, they bring out the best in you,” Fuccillo said. “It’s the last hurrah of the season, and we’re not going to hold back.”

The winner of Saturday’s meet will earn its school five points toward the Lexus Gauntlet trophy. Currently, UCLA holds a commanding 35-12.5 lead in the year-long competition between the two schools.