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Pac-10 In Print
• USC Swim USC Women's Swim
Written By: Kristen Lahey The UCLA meet was as exciting and successful as we anticipated! One thing that was very noticeable was how pleasant the swimmers were to each other. Even though winning the meet was important to both teams, everyone was very courteous and sportsmanlike. I realized that USC and UCLA swimmers have quite a bit in common and it is important to see your opponents as you would yourself. Both teams of girls work hard every day and get up at ungodly hours to practice. The girls on our team really put their hearts into every race. We started out winning the medley relay and breaking the pool record. Then our distance women had some amazing swims in the mile. Senior Whitney Hentzen picked up another NCAA 'A' cut and Seniors Brittany Allen and Lindsay Warren both did extremely well and acquired NCAA 'B' cuts. Senior Emily Goetsch, who competed individually in the 100 and 200 fly won her events and posted great times. During the meet we lost some key races that we counted on getting the points for, but the divers did extraordinary and helped us keep the lead. Even with the extra diving points the meet was going to be a close call and we knew our free relay would be important. Our 400 free relay performed better than anyone really expected us to. Generally we do not have a great free relay to put together at the end of a meet, but this time it was different. We decided to save some girls for the last relay and to many peoples' surprise the gamble paid off. Even though UCLA placed 1st, 3rd, and 4th in the 100 free, we managed to out-touch their 'A' relay and win the meet! With the UCLA meet behind us, we can now focus on our championship meets, Pac-10's and NCAA's. We are at a slight disadvantage at Pac-10's for team scores because we have such a small team right now, but we can still have some great individual swims. Pac-10's is one of our favorite meets because it is normally held at Belmont in Long Beach, CA, which happens to be a short drive from campus. Our men's team comes out to support us during finals and that really gets us going. Right now the girls are focusing on school a little more to make sure they have all their assignments and studying in order before Pac-10's begins. This way the team will be focused on the meet. However, when we are at the pool, our sole focus is fine-tuning and making sure everything is perfect and we have done all we can to prepare for Pac-10's. This is a crucial time for the team and it is important for everything to run smoothly as we push to the finish! Fight On! Kristen Lahey
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