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The No. 14 UCLA women’s swim team has had a tremendously successful season thus far with a 4-1 record, coming up short only against No. 2 Arizona. It has set multiple new meet records and many Bruins have achieved personal best times.

But with the NCAA Championships in view, there’s room to improve and to keep getting faster.

“We’ve been working on race strategies,” coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “Everyone’s in shape. The whole country’s in shape. It now comes down to who can compete the best.”

In order to take the Bruins to the next level, Gallagher has intensified the competitive atmosphere during their practice time. Rather than focusing on conditioning, the Bruins race each other in practice.

“It’s important to race each other so you can compare yourself with your teammates,” new transfer Isabell Fischer said. “It pushes you to be better.”

Gallagher has made an effort to simulate real racing conditions during practice. Not only does she record the Bruins’ times and in what order they finish, but she also uses the official horn that signals the Bruins to dive into the water to begin their race.

“You can’t just swim fast at meets or it’ll take you by surprise,” Gallagher said. “We’re practicing as if we were at a meet.”

Another technique Gallagher has used to improve the Bruin squad is videotaping them during practice and reviewing the tape with them afterward.

“We want to see the small details of our techniques,” Gallagher said. “We’re especially focusing on our technique when we get tired and start breaking down.”

Reviewing the videotape will enable the Bruins to visualize what they need to do to make their strokes as efficient as possible in order to tighten up their technique and shave down their times.

“The video makes it much easier to see what you’re doing wrong,” sophomore Silke Nowotzin said. “It makes you much more comfortable with your strokes.”

LOOKING AHEAD: The Bruins now head into the final and toughest stretch of the season. They first go to Northern California to face No. 1 Stanford and No. 4 California on Jan. 19 and 20, respectively. Then they will square off against crosstown rival No. 10 USC on Feb. 3. The Bruins know they will need to step up if they want to be competitive against these teams that have had outstanding seasons.

“We need to continue to believe we can compete with the best,” Gallagher said. “Just because we’re not national champions doesn’t mean we can’t be.”

STAYING HOME: Gallagher has opted not to take her team to the Long Beach Grand Prix – a club meet – this weekend because she feels the Bruins’ time would be much better spent at their regular practices.

“We’d just miss too much training,” Gallagher said. “We get a lot out of our practices, and it’s not worth it to be down there when we could be here getting faster.”