COLLEGE SWIMMING : UCLA Sets Five Meet Records but Still Trails Cal

Frustrated by three sluggish, losing performances in dual meets last month, including a 65-point loss to Texas, UCLA Coach Ron Ballatore abandoned his usual heavy pre-holiday training plan.

He scaled back workouts for the Speedo Collegiate Cup West at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

“I just wanted us to swim fast,” Ballatore said. “We haven’t in a while.”

The strategy worked as the Bruins broke five meet records, with marks being set by Michael Andrews, Greg Schaffer and Michael Picotte, on Friday. They trail California, 601.5-534, going into today’s final day of competition.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Andrews broke 1992 Olympic silver medalist Jeff Rouse’s 1989 mark of 49.43 seconds with a 49.36 in the morning preliminaries. Eight hours later, the freshman from Cincinnati lowered it to a 48.61.

Two weeks ago, Andrews couldn’t break 52 seconds.

“I wanted to step up and race at the college level and see what I could do,” Andrews said.

Schaffer, a senior from Santa Clara, swam a 54.70 in the preliminaries of the 100 breaststroke, breaking the record of 55.44 set by USC’s Ray Looze in 1989 and drawing within 0.30 of a second of his personal best.

Picotte won the 100 butterfly in a meet record 47.81, well under the 48.25 held by Arizona State’s Keith Dennison since 1990.

USC won its first event of the meet and set the only other meet record of the night when Ayako Nakano, Jenn Stephen, Elin Bartel and Ulrike Reinholdt combined for a school-record 7:20.87 in the 800 freestyle relay.

The most dominant swim of the day was turned in by UCLA’s Kristin Heydanek, who won the women’s 100 backstroke by 2.08 seconds. Heydanek, who had never broken 55 seconds, did so in the medley relay Thursday, and Friday night set a meet record of 54.78.