Darcel Among 3 Cal Freshmen to Contribute Wins in Victory at UCLA

CALIFORNIA VS. UCLA

• Results
• Hosted by UCLA
• Saturday, January 27th
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• CAL: 183
• UCLA: 111

The Cal women improved to 9-0 on their undefeated season as they took down UCLA on the road. Amy Bilquist came up with a winning double for the Bears. In the 200 free, Bilquist used her front-end speed to take the edge over UCLA’s Kenisha Liu, winning in 1:47.06 to Liu’s 1:47.82. She returned for the 100 free, flipping in 23.67 en route to a 49.34 victory. Teammate Maddie Murphy followed for a Cal 1-2- finish in 49.94.

Cal’s freshmen continue to play a big role, with 3 freshmen earning individual wins. Robin Neumann picked up a win for the bears in the 500 free, outpacing UCLA’s Sandra Soe (4:55.85) through the final 200 yards to win it in 4:54.28. Ali Harrison won the 100 breast in 1:03.14 and came up just shy of a stroke sweep as she was clipped by UCLA’s Emma Schanz, 2:15.60 to 2:15.75, in the 200 breast. Finally, Sarah Darcel closed out the individual events with a win in the 400 IM, touching in 4:16.82 to top the field by 2 seconds.

PRESS RELEASE – CAL:

LOS ANGELES – Cal extended its dual-meet record to a perfect 9-0 on the season with a 183-111 victory at UCLA Saturday as the Golden Bears won 15 of 16 events on the afternoon.

Thirteen different Bears earned a first-place finish in individual events, with junior Amy Bilquistprevailing twice – in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle. Cal also won both the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay.

The result comes one day after the Bears downed USC, 169-131, to give them a sweep of their Los Angeles trip. Cal’s final dual meet of the year is at Stanford on Feb. 10, followed by the Pac-12 Championships at the end of February and the NCAA meet in mid-March.

“I thought we did a nice job coming back and building on what we did yesterday,” head coach Teri McKeever said. “Now, it’s about staying healthy, focusing on finishing up the dual-meet season and getting as many people qualified for NCAAs as we can.”

On Saturday, the foursome of Kathleen Baker, Abbey Weitzeil, Maddie Murphy and Bilquist touched first in the opening 200 medley relay in 1:39.85. Chenoa Devine then won the 1000 free in 9:58.33 before Bilquist took first in the 200 free in 1:47.06. In the 100 back, Baker (53.62) led a 1-2-3 Cal finish, as teammates Keaton Blovad (54.93) and Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou (55.55) touched in succession.

Ali Harrison earned a victory in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.14, along with Noemie Thomas in the 200 butterfly (1:57.88), Weitzeil in the 50 free (22.85) and Phoebe LaMay on the 3-meter springboard (305.93) to complete the first half of the meet.

After a break, Bilquist came through in the 100 free in 49.34 and Blovad reached the wall first in the 200 back (1:58.95). Harrison just missed her second win, falling 0.15 behind UCLA’s Emma Schanz in the 200 breast.

However, the Bears won the next four individual events – Robin Neumann in the 500 free (4:54.28), Katie McLaughlin in the 100 fly (53.47), Briana Thai on the 1-meter board (288.08) and Sarah Darcel in the 400 IM (4:16.82).

Murphy, McLaughlin, Bilquist and Weitzeil closed things out with a time of 1:30.95 to win the 200 free relay.

PRESS RELEASE – UCLA:

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA women’s swimming and diving team wrapped up a weekend of home Top-5 matchups with a loss to No. 5 California, 183-111. Emma Schanz posted the lone UCLA win of the day, while a number of Bruin swimmers tallied runner-up results.

For the second straight day, diving began the day. One day after posting a win in the Bruins’ dual meet against No. 3 Stanford, Ciara Monahan (284.70) finished second to Briana Thai of Cal (288.08). Monahan returned later in the day to post yet another runner-up finish, notching a score of 302.48 in the 3-Meter, just behind Cal’s Phoebe LaMay (305.93) for the top spot.

The Bruin “A” team of Jennifer Lathrop, Schanz, Amy Okada and Kenisha Liu finished third in the 200 Medley Relay (1:42.90) for UCLA’s top finish in the event. In the first distance race of the afternoon, Sandra Soe finished second in the 1000 Free (10:03.18), while Margaux Verger Gourson and Lisa Kaunitz backed her up in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Kenisha Liu challenged Cal’s Amy Bilquist, but finished 76 hundredths of a second behind the Golden Bear for another second-place showing. Freshmen Lathrop and Lucy Agnew each contributed to the Bruin cause in the 100 Back, while Schanz touched the wall just 27 hundredths back of Alicia Harrison and the top spot in the 100 Breast. Emma Cain and Sarah Kaunitz also posted strong performances.

It was another narrow second-place result for UCLA in the 200 Fly, as Okada checked in at 1:58.61. Katie Grover‘s 23.24 time in the 50 Free challenged Golden Bears Abbey Weitzeil and Katie McLaughlin and was good for third. The senior from Atlanta also turned in a strong performance in the 100 Free (50.49), coming in just over a second back of winner Bilquist (49.34). Liu checked in at 50.55 to take third.

Lathrop, Agnew and Marie-Pierre Delisle picked up points in the 200 Back, before Schanz posted the Bruins’ only win of the day. Her 2:15.60 in the 200 Breast edged out Harrison, while Cain (2:20.09) and Sarah Kaunitz (2:20.97) also had strong showings.

Soe took second in the 500 Free (4:55.85) by a narrow margin, while Verger Gourson took third (4:59.76). Okada (54.42) and Grover (55.25) went 2-3 in the 100 Fly, while Schanz registered another second-place finish with a 4:19.79 in the 400 IM.

Grover, Okada, Carly Reid and Sarah Kaunitz teamed to finish the 200 Free Relay in a time of 1:33.84.

UCLA will return to action when No. 13 USC visits Spieker Aquatics Center on Feb. 9.