The Cougars began the meet against the Bruins with a solid first-place win by Maddi Parker with a 50.89-second win in the 100-yard freestyle. This clearly set the tone for the meet breaking the stereotype of UCLA taking the early lead.
The Cougars kept their streak in the running with Kania Swain placing second in the 200-yard backstroke. The Cougars came to this meet with speed and the start of the meet showed precisely where their talent and skill is coming from and going.
UCLA unsurprisingly averaged powerful swimmers with some good times showing exactly why they are so well ranked on the national scale sitting comfortably at the 23rd spot.
“Overall this is our best performance we have done against any top 25 school Period here in Gibb pool,” head coach Matt Leach said. “I am excited with how we did obviously. I think we could have performed better in a few events top to bottom not just one person stepping up and winning it, but having our second, third, fourth person step up. But overall a great meet for us against a top 25 team.”
The 200-yard Breaststroke event gave the Cougars a chance to show their strength with each pull of the arms granting each of the swimmers an intense cycle of water beneath them putting waves into the lanes next to them. The event showed endurance and placed Lundgren in second place.
The Cougars had had a swimmer in the top three at every meet and showed no signs of stopping.
Unfortunately, according to Leach with many of the placements falling just out of scoring in fifth and sixth place, he was expecting the swimmers to place fourth and fifth. These small changes to the scoring would have led the Cougars to either shrink the gap or surpass it altogether.
The 500-yard freestyle gave a chance for the cougars to show their endurance bringing a slower start but a keen eye on maintaining their speed. And yet, even with an almost four-and-a-half-minute race the cougars still made the water appear to boil.
“I think it’s great for us I think it is great to be on the rise of Washington State and to be a part of that is awesome,” freshman Maddison Parker said.
Mira Szimcsak came in ahead at the last minute after trailing a UCLA swimmer by less than a tenth of a second the entire race it came down to the bubbles between them and a fingernail’s thickness of distance. Szimcsak came in first showing why the Cougars are a true test of power.
The 100-yard butterfly was the first event the Cougars did not place in the top three bringing an end to their outstanding streak. Although the Cougars are showing a tight meet the Bruins took the lead and managed to make the challenge difficult.
The swimmers gave the Bruins a run for their money and seem to be showing why they should not go overlooked.
The 400-yard relay was the last event bringing the Cougars a huge lead and showing an intensely close split in their times. The Cougars took an easy first place and brought themselves a close third place with their B team,
The Cougars made a tight meet with the score ending in 153-109 giving them a huge success.
