The University of California, Riverside’s (UCR) Swim Club on campus brings a renewed atmosphere of community, competition and work ethic. They practice every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Student Recreation Center (SRC).
This past year, they attended swim meets hosted by UC San Diego (UCSD), UC Los Angeles (UCLA) and Regionals hosted by UC Irvine (UCI) where club swim teams on the West Coast compete to qualify for Nationals.
Swim Club president Louanne Buan highlighted the growth of the swim team. “Every year we send more and more swimmers,” she explained. “Two years ago, when [Nationals] was in Indiana, we sent four swimmers. Last year, [Nationals] was in Arizona, and we sent about six. This year, we had nine or 10 swimmers that qualified and seven of them went. So every year [the number of swimmers who attend Nationals] is slowly going up.”
Seven swimmers from UCR Swim Club attended Nationals this year held from April 10 through 12 in Greensboro, North Carolina and they are as follows: Kaitlyn Copeland, Aya Olszewski, Nadia Lui, Aciara Jackson, Michael Zhou, Jackson Miller and Cole Chang.
One notable swimmer includes Nadia Lui who qualified and swam for the most individual events in the team with a total of four events: 100m back, 50m back, 100m individual medley and 50m fly. She is described as a “powerhouse” by Buan and is noted to be exceptional at “all the strokes” including two relays.
Buan also noted that freshmen Kaitlyn Copeland and Aciara Jackson are handling the “big competition environment” of Nationals with “such grace,” despite their relative inexperience. Kaitlyn Copeland “swam the 50m breast going 33.10, 0.84 seconds faster than her seeded time” as well as relays. Aciara Jackson “went a 34.83 in her 50m breast” as well as swimming in relays.
Finally, Buan highlighted swimmer Cole Chang who “killed it” at swimming “the 100m breast with a time of 1:01.75 dropping a second off his best time.” She stated that Chang was unable to participate in the 50m breast, despite his qualification, due to an event cap.
She explained the pride she feels in all the swimmers in Swim Club, stating, “how they deserve to … compete at the national college level,” showing qualities of determination, strong work ethic and community.
Buan explains her hopes for the club, to “keep building up the team numbers … [and] in the next couple of years … have UCR host the regional swim meet.”
