SPORTSCOPE : Five UCLA Swimmers Among the Favorites in Pac-10 Meet

The UCLA men’s swim team (9-4 in dual meets and 3-2 against Pacific 10 Conference opponents) will vie with powers Stanford, California and USC in the Pac-10 championships today through Saturday at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

In earlier dual meets, the Bruins defeated the Cardinal and Cal but lost to the Trojans, 69-44.

Five UCLA swimmers are among the favorites in their events. Bruin All-American sophomores Brian Kurza and Andrea Cecchi will defend their championships in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 breast-stroke, respectively. Cecchi also is one of the top entrants in the 200 breast-stroke.

UCLA All-American senior Mark Dean will be hard to beat in the 200 butterfly. Dean has a 14-1 record in that event in dual meets during the last two seasons.

Bruin freshman Geoff Cronin, who won the U.S. Swimming Long Course 100-meter backstroke last summer, could beat the pack in the 100-yard and 200 backstroke events. UCLA All-American senior Rodrigo Gonzalez, a 1988 Olympian for Mexico, is rated highly in the 200 individual medley.

UCLA should earn points in the 400 freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay.

In the conference diving championship held last week, UCLA’s Chris Dudka and Dave Fleck combined for 94 points as the Bruins edged second-place Stanford by one point and third-place Arizona State by two.

Dudka, a sophomore transfer from the University of South Carolina, won the three-meter event with a score of 551.40. Fleck was sixth with 454.20. Dudka was second on the one-meter board and in platform, while Fleck finished sixth and fifth, respectively, in those two events.

The UCLA women’s swim team (7-2 in dual meets) will be the host team for the Bruin Invitational, which starts at noon Saturday at the UCLA men’s gymnasium pool.

Last week Stanford won its fourth consecutive Pac-10 championship with 1,717 points, and UCLA finished third at 1,143.

Bruin sophomore Kris Stoudt set a new conference record with a 49.93 in the 100 freestyle and a school record with a 54.72 in the 100 butterfly and won the 50 freestyle in 23.36. She qualified for the NCAA meet in each race.

Other UCLA qualifiers for the NCAA were Jeanne Gibbons in the 200 freestyle and the 200 and 800 freestyle and 400 medley relay teams.

The UCLA women’s basketball team, which has won six of its last seven games, will be aiming for its first NCAA tournament bid since 1985 when it plays tonight at Washington State (13-11, 5-9 in the Pac-10) and Saturday night at seventh-ranked Washington (22-2, 13-1).

The Bruins (16-9, 11-4) hope to win two of their last three games and earn an at-large bid. UCLA will finish the regular season by playing host to USC at 7 p.m. March 8 at Pauley Pavilion.

Last week Sandra VanEmbricqs was named conference player of the week after she led UCLA to a 74-55 win over Oregon State and a 79-65 victory over Oregon. Against the Ducks, VanEmbricqs scored 22 points and had 14 rebounds, Michelle Wootton had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Rehema Stephens added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Van Embricqs has scored in double figures in 11 of her last 12 games.

The third-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team (12-1 overall and 7-1 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.) will play host to No. 2 USC (9-3, 5-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

Last week the Bruins held off Pepperdine in five games and defeated Cal State Northridge in four. Against the Waves, Oren Sher had a season-high 24 kills, Rich Bland had 14 kills, five digs and five blocks, and Trevor Schirman had seven blocks. In the Northridge match, Bland had 17 kills, Sher had 15 kills and six blocks and Schirman added a season-high 16 blocks.

The UCLA men’s and women’s gymnastics teams will hold simultaneous dual meets at 7 p.m. Friday at the John Wooden Center. The third-ranked Bruin men will meet UC Santa Barbara, while the No. 7 UCLA women will face Washington.

Last week the Bruin women won the UCLA/Los Angeles Times invitational with 191.45 points. Other scores: Cal State Fullerton, 187.95; Penn State, 187, and New Mexico, 184.20.

UCLA senior Jill Andrews set new meet records and career-best marks as she won the all-around title with a 39.05 and the vault with a 9.95. Andrews also won the beam with a 9.70 and floor exercise with a 9.80. Bruin junior Renee Kelly had a career-best 9.70 in floor exercise.

The Bruin men (10-2) were upset last week at Stanford, 276.25 to 274.95. Three UCLA performers took firsts: senior Chris Waller with a 9.65 in the pommel horse, sophomore Chainey Umphrey with a 9.85 in the rings and Scott Keswick with a 9.75 in the high bar.

The UCLA men’s track team will play host to Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in its home opener Saturday ) at Drake Stadium. The hammer throw will start at 10 a.m. at West Los Angeles College. At Drake Stadium, field events will start at 1 p.m. and running events at 2.

The UCLA women’s track team will compete Saturday in the Aztec Invitational at San Diego State.

The top-ranked UCLA women’s softball team (17-3) will play Friday through Sunday in the Spuds McKenzie tournament at Las Vegas.

Last week the Bruins swept double-headers from Cal State Long Beach and San Diego State.

UCLA sophomore outfielder Yvonne Gutierrez has a seven-game hitting streak and has had at least two hits in each of her last six games.

The Bruin pitching staff is led by Lisa Longaker (7-0) and freshman DeDe Weiman (5-1). Longaker has an earned run average of 0.71. Weiman leads the team with 43 strikeouts, nine hits allowed, four runs allowed and five shutouts.

The No. 3 UCLA men’s tennis team (12-2) will play host to UC Riverside at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

In the national team indoor tournament in Louisville last week the Bruins finished fifth, defeating Clemson, 6-3, and Alabama, 5-1, and losing to UC Berkeley, 6-3.

Bill Barber extended his singles winning streak to seven straight matches. He is 14-4 overall and 11-1 in dual matches. In doubles, Barber and partner Mark Quinney lost for the first time in dual match play to Cal’s top-ranked team of Doug Eisenman and Matt Lucena.

The sixth-ranked UCLA women’s golf team will compete Friday through Sunday in the San Jose State Invitational. The Spartans were NCAA champions last year.

The second-ranked UCLA women’s tennis team (9-0) is seeded third in the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn./Rolex indoor team championships, which run through Sunday at Madison, Wis. The Bruins will open today against Duke.

Last week UCLA defeated Arizona State, 6-3, and Arizona, 6-0.