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For the first time in Tom Stebbins’ eight years as coach of the UCLA diving team, one of his freshmen has qualified for the NCAA Championships. The diver, Marisa Samaniego, competes this week at the meet in Athens, Ga., today through Saturday. “It’s great for Marisa to have this experience so early in her collegiate career,” Stebbins said. “I am thrilled she can build on her success at such a young age.” Only 41 women in the nation received invitations to the event. “To be a part of the NCAA meet is very special,” Stebbins said. “It’s really, really tough to qualify as a freshman.” Stebbins attributes much of Samaniego’s achievements to her aptitude. She quickly learned to make the necessary adjustments to compete on the college level. Although thrilled to make the cut, Samaniego admits the news somewhat shocked her. “I always thought the championships would be something great to attend,” she said. “(It) was always in the back of my mind, but I never actually (envisioned) it would happen,” she said. In fact, Samaniego felt so sure she would not qualify, she even told her parents to make other arrangements. “I told them not to worry about buying airplane tickets for Georgia, since I probably wouldn’t make it,” she said. While her parents listened to their daughter’s advice, Samaniego is happy her father came to watch her dive at the Pac-10 Championships in Washington and the NCAA Zone E qualifying tournament in Oklahoma last weekend, where she placed eighth in the one-meter and 12th in the three-meter. Now, only a week after intense competition at the qualifying tournament, Samaniego had to quickly prepare for the meet in Athens. “This is tough,” she said. “Usually after a diving meet I have more time to come back down from my high,” she said. With Samaniego slightly nervous about her first trip to the meet, Stebbins knows his diver has the ability to succeed, and all she needs to do is calm herself before the competition. “It’s good for her,” Stebbins said. “Marisa is a highly trained elite athlete. She’ll be fine physically. It’s more the emotional part she needs to get ready.” Careful not to mess with a good thing, Stebbins will not make any changes to Marisa’s diving repertoire until the season ends. “For now, she is going with what we have, and I’m really pleased,” Stebbins said. “This fall we will beef up her list.” Those changes will prove necessary if Samaniego, already claiming the best collegiate start of any diver in Stebbins’ career, wants to become more competitive with the highest-ranked divers.

SWIMMING: Eight UCLA swimmers will accompany Samaniego this weekend in Athens for the NCAA Championships for swimming. Led by senior Kim Vandenberg, the No. 7 Bruins’ swimming team aims to see some NCAA-best times, and hopefully a few All-American honors. Vandenberg currently has the third-fastest 200-meter fly time in the country, putting her in a good position to win an NCAA title. Vandenberg is also competing in the 100-meter fly and the 50-meter freestyle. And after a breakthrough performance at the Pac-10 Championships, junior Katie Nelson heads to the meet seeded 12th for the mile swim. Aside from Nelson and Vandenberg, sophomore Chiemi Yamamoto, senior Katie Arnold, freshman Anna Poteete, junior Amy Thurman, senior Eileen Seissen and sophomore Nicolette Teo also head to Athens. Arnold has a chance to win an NCAA title, as she is competing in the 50-m freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter backstroke. Arnold ranks eighth in the nation in the 200-m backstroke, with a best time of 1:56.19.