NCAA Div. I Women: Coughlin Stars as Cal Bears Spank UCLA Bruins

By Bill Bell

BERKELEY, Calif., Jan. 27. COACH Terri McKeever's Cal Golden Bears' women's team completed an impressive sweep of their neighbors to the south here today, drowning No. 2 ranked UCLA, 161-139, in a dual meet Saturday afternoon at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. Cal had splashed past USC on Friday at Berkeley.

The Golden Bears were again led by sensational freshman Natalie Coughlin, who won three individual events and established three Spieker Aquatics Complex records. Coughlin captured the 200 free with a time of 1:46.93, breaking the former Cal pool record of 1:47.89 set in 1985 by Cal's Conny van Bentum, a Dutch Olympian.

Coughlin then won the 200 back with a 1:57.02 (seasonal best), topping the former record of 1:58.07 set by the Bears' New Zealand Olympian Anna Simcic in 1995. Coughlin's third record was in the 100 fly where she tied the pool record of 52.68 set by Stanford's Misty Hyman in 1999. All three swims were NCAA automatic qualifying times. In four Pac-10 dual meets this season, Coughlin has won an impressive 12 races.
She now tops the national Division I chart in a whopping five events: 200 free (pr 1:45.65 during Longhorn Invitational in Austin last December); 100 back (52.79, also from Austin); 100 fly (52.40 at Texas), 200 fly (1:55.93) and 200 IM (1:58.35).

While Coughlin's 200 free-200 IM are career bests, she's been faster in the three other events. For example, in the 100 back her pr is 52.55, the former American record and fourth on the all-time performers-performances list. In the 200 back her best is a 1:53.45 (fifth-fourth); in the 100 fly her pr is 52.37, and in the 200 fly its 1:55.20 (13-5). The 200 free and the 100 fly-100 back are on the second day at NCAAs while the 200 fly-back are both on the third day. Presuming she swims either the backstrokes or the flys on Days 2-3, she'll likely be going up against Olympic gold medalist Misty Hyman of Stanford in at least one of those races (if not more) and this "Battle of the Titans" could produce more lively action than Gladiator!

Other individual winners for Cal were senior Haley Cope in the 100 back (55.36), senior Rita Mariani in the 200 breast (2:17.03), sophomore Olympian Staciana Stitts in the 100 breast (1:03.71), freshman Kristen Sissener in the 1,000 free (10:15.62) and freshman Kyoko Yokouchi in the 400 IM (4:19.46 — her pr). The Bears also won both relays, placing first in the 200 medley relay (1:43.00 sophomore Andi Finlay, Stitts, Coughlin, sophomore Michelle Harper) and the 200 free relay (1:33.65 Harper, freshman Danielle Becks, junior Adrienne Mattos, Cope).

UCLA was led by freshman Sara Platzer, who won the 50 free with a Spieker Aquatics Complex record time of 23.17 (topping the old record of 23.25 set by Sandy Neilsen of the USA National Team in 1987) and the 100 free (50.41). Sophomore diver Heidi Prosser placed first in both the one (252.6) and three-meter (284.48) diving competition.

Cal will next host Bay Area rival Stanford, Saturday, Feb. 10 at 12 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

RESULTS
200 Medley Relay
1. Cal A (Andi Finlay, Staciana Stitts, Natalie Coughlin, Michelle Harper) 1:43.00
2. UCLA A 1:43.59
3. Cal B 1:46.80
4. UCLA B 1:47.66

1,000 Freestyle
1. Kristen Sissener Cal 10:15.62
2. Beth Boehm UCLA 10:19.58
3. Emily Melina UCLA 10:19.81
4. Erin Thomas UCLA 10:23.59
5. Liah Kim Cal 10:27.45

200 Freestyle
1. Natalie Coughlin Cal 1:46.93
2. Sara Platzer UCLA 1:50.92
3. Danielle Becks Cal 1:52.18
4. Erin Zehntner UCLA 1:53.00
5. Katie Winkelhaus UCLA 1:53.08

100 Back
1. Haley Cope Cal 55.36
2. Kyoko Yokouchi Cal 57.72
3. Andi Finlay Cal 58.23
4. Brighid Dwyer UCLA 58.32
5. Leanne Cadag UCLA 58.46

100 Breaststroke
1. Staciana Stitts Cal 1:03.71
2. Rita Mariana Cal 1:04.40
3. Lyndee Hovsepian UCLA 1:04.76
4. Jen Noddle UCLA 1:05.27
5. Cathy Coler UCLA 1:05.38

200 Butterfly
1. Beth Goodwin UCLA 2:00.36
2. Kristen Sissener Cal 2:03.64
3. Natalie Griffith Cal 2:03.83
4. Katie Younglove UCLA 2:04.53
5. Kristen Lewis UCLA 2:04.81

50 Freestyle
1. Sara Platzer UCLA 23.17
2. Michelle Harper Cal 23.52
3. Erica Shugart UCLA 23.68
4. Danielle Becks Cal 23.72
5. Adrienne Mattos Cal 23.80

One Meter Diving
1. Heidi Prosser UCLA 252.60
2. Regan Gosnell UCLA 251.18
3. Christina Flynn Cal 221.48
4. Anne Baghramian UCLA 215.10
5. Danielle Sermer Cal 208.58

100 Freestyle
1. Sara Platzer UCLA 50.41
2. Haley Cope Cal 50.79
3. Danielle Becks Cal 51.32
4. Michelle Harper Cal 52.12
5. Erica Shugart UCLA 52.30

200 Backstroke
1. Natalie Coughlin Cal 1:57.02
2. Kyoko Yokouchi Cal 2:02.28
3. Katie Winkelhaus UCLA 2:03.34
4. Maoko Watanabe UCLA 2:03.97
5. Brighid Dwyer UCLA 2:07.87

200 Breaststroke
1. Rita Mariani Cal 2:17.03
2. Staciana Stitts Cal 2:17.81
3. Jen Noddle UCLA 2:19.09
4. Lyndee Hovsepian UCLA 2:19.68
5. Brooke Winkler UCLA 2:20.88

500 Freestyle
1. Erin Zehntner UCLA 4:59.98
2. Natalie Griffith Cal 5:00.13
3. Beth Boehm UCLA 5:02.15
4. Kristen Sissener Cal 5:04.64
5. Emily Melina UCLA 5:05.44

100 Butterfly
1. Natalie Coughlin Cal 52.68
2. Beth Goodwin UCLA 54.58
3. Haley Cope Cal 55.69
4. Kristen Lewis UCLA 56.94
5. Katie Younglove UCLA 57.10

Three Meter Diving
1. Heidi Prosser UCLA 284.48
2. Anne Baghramian UCLA 263.63
3. Christina Flynn Cal 255.00
4. Regan Gosnell UCLA 254.25
5. Danielle Sermer Cal 226.8

400 Individual Medley
1. Kyoko Yokouchi Cal 4:19.46
2. Brooke Winkler UCLA 4:22.43
3. Jen Noddle UCLA 4:26.51
4. Natalie Griffith Cal 4:26.91
5. Cathy Coler UCLA 4:27.72

200 Freestyle Relay
1. Cal A (Michelle Harper, Danielle Becks, Adrienne Mattos, Haley Cope) 1:33.65
2. UCLA A 1:33.80
3. UCLA B 1:37.58
4. Cal B 1:41.51

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