Ana Jih-Schiff Sweeps Breaststroke Events, UCLA Beats Arizona State in Dual Meet

Photo Courtesy: Ana Jih-Schiff via CollegeSwimming

Ana Jih-Schiff Sweeps Breaststroke Events, UCLA Beats Arizona State in Dual Meet

The Bruins of UCLA are four-for-four in dual meet wins this season. After beating Arizona Friday, UCLA topped Arizona State Saturday by a 183-to-116 margin. Ana Jih-Schiff was the top performer for UCLA as she swept the 100 breaststroke (1:02.16) and 200 breast (2:14.68), and she joined with teammates Sophia Kosturos, Gabby Dang and Claire Grover in a 200 medley relay win.

Others winning individual swimming events for UCLA included Katrina Bellio (1000 freestyle), Kosturos (100 backstroke), Grover (50 free), Rachel Rhee (100 free) and Rosie Murphy (200 back). That would be enough to overcome a strong effort from Arizona State’s Ieka Maluka, who secured wins in the 200 free (1:49.37), 500 free (4:54.35) and 200 IM (2:03.19).

Full results are available here, and read the full press release from UCLA below.

The No. 20-ranked UCLA swim and dive team posted a 183-116 win over Arizona State on Saturday afternoon at Spieker Aquatics Center to finish off a weekend sweep of the Pac-12 Arizona schools and improve to 4-0 on the year.

The Bruins won 11 of 16 events overall over the Sun Devils (0-6), including sweeps in the relays, diving, backstroke, and breaststroke events.

Sophomore Ana Jih-Schiff led the way for the Bruins, touching the wall first in both the 100 breast and 200 breast to finish as the lone UCLA swimmer with multiple individual wins.

Senior Sophia Kosturos (100 back) and freshman Rosie Murphy (200 back) teamed up to sweep those events for UCLA, while fifth-year Claire Grover (50 free) and senior Rachel Rhee (100 free) brought home sprint freestyle wins for the Bruins.

Senior Hannah Butler (1-meter) and sophomore Zoe Jespersgaard (3-meter) each brought home a diving win.

The Bruins started off the meet with a convincing win in the 200 medley relay, as the quartet of Kosturos, Jih-Schiff, Gabby Dang and Grover grabbed a win with a time of 1:40.64.

Freshman Katrina Bellio followed that up with a second win in the 1000 free in as many days, going a 10:12.61.

After an ASU win in the 200 free, the Bruins reeled off three straight wins, starting with Kosturos in the 100 back (54.99) and followed up by Jih-Schiff in the 100 breast (1:02.16) and Jespersgaard in 3-meter diving (296.85). The first half of the meet concluded with another sub-23 showing from Grover in the 50 free, as she beat out the field by nearly a full second at 22.69.

The first three races after the re-start were incredibly close, with UCLA edging out Arizona State each time for a dramatic win.

First in the 100 free, Rhee held off ASU’s Lindsay Looney in the last half of the race, touching just .02 seconds ahead of her at 50.73.

Murphy was in fourth place after the first lap of the 200 back, but came back with a strong second 50 to take the lead. She ultimately held off ASU’s Charli Brown and won the race by about a half second at 1:59.78.

Then in the 200 breast, Jih-Schiff stormed back in the final 25 yards of the race to overtake Emma Gehlert and win with a time of 2:14.68.

After that race, ASU would win the final three individual swims of the afternoon, but the Bruins pulled back away with solid wins in 1-meter (Butler, 277.65) and the 400 free relay, as the UCLA A-team of Rhee, Kosturos, Maddie Wright and Grover posted a time of 3:21.72. UCLA came back in that final relay too, with Grover swimming a strong final 50 yards to get in nearly a second ahead of ASU’s top quartet.

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