UCLA-USC Swim Meet Is Expected to Be Close

The UCLA and USC swimming teams will meet today at 2 p.m. at the USC Swim Stadium for their final competition before the Pacific 10 Conference meet March 13-15 at East Los Angeles College.

UCLA has won its last five meets with USC, but Bruin Coach Ron Ballatore is expecting a close one this time. “Last year, it went down to the last relay, and we won by one point,” he said. “And USC has gotten a lot better.”

For this short-course meet, competition will be held in the diving well, where the water is 17 feet deep, and that should enhance times.

The conference meet should be even more intense, and Ballatore is expecting exceptionally fast times there.

“That will be like a mini-NCAA meet, since we have so many of the top teams in the country in our conference,” Ballatore said. “I coach our kids to be good racers, so they’ll react to what the competition is doing. Even the kids who have their qualifying times and who won’t shave for the conference meet will probably be pretty fast.”

UCLA has a 3-3 record this season. USC is 9-2.

Today’s meet will be shown by Prime Ticket on a delayed basis at 7 p.m. Sunday night. The commentators will be John Naber and Bruce Furniss, both former Olympians and former Trojan swimmers.