ATLANTA– Paced by medical student Yifan Mao's third place finish in the 50 freestyle, the UCLA women placed 13th overall at the College Club Swimming National Championships hosted by Georgia Tech.
Clocking in at 23.97 – a near one-second drop from her prelims swim – the former University of Chicago swimmer trailed event-winner Sheridan Phalen of Michigan State by just .12 seconds.
Mao was also 11th in the 100 freestyle (53.76) and a member of the Bruins' fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.28) along with Isabelle Jones, Jacqui Liao and Uma Kumar. Mao, Katie Stone, Carly Marshall and Natalie Quilala also banded together for a seventh-place swim in the 200 medley relay (1:51.32).
Other UCLA individual finalists included Jones, who placed 19th in the 50 freestyle (25.55), Elena Dworak's 19th place effort in the 200 breaststroke (2:34.30), Quilala's 13th place swim in the 50 fly (26.49) and Marshall's 17th place 50 butterfly (32.18).
The Bruins also finaled in the 400 freestyle relay with Kumar, Brianna Martilla, Jones and Liao combining for a 3:45.68, 16th-place finish. In the 400 medley, Martilla, Erika Ngyuen, Stone and Pam Nelson were 17th (4:14.20), while the same quartet was 19th in the meet-opening 800 freestyle relay (8:27.08).
Helen Senchev, Dhwani Krishnan, Megan Jones, Nicole Muttera, Olivia Carvallo and Emi Chinn also raced for the Bruin women at GT's McAuley Aquatic Center (the host site for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games). Combined with the men, UCLA placed 23rd overall.
Additional Meet Highlights:
LEVEL UP... Besides crushing it in her swims, Mao celebrated her 24th birthday during the meet. 
DWORAK'S DUCKIES… In all four of her prelims races, Dworak won her heat, earning celebratory rubber ducks from the meet hosts. 
THEM SPLITS THO… Eric Lau wowed the competition with his lightning-fast 23.38 swim in the men's 50 butterfly. Lau was also on fire in the 100 butterfly, punching the wall at 52.08.
WE DEM BOYS… While the Bruin men failed to final at the meet, Ben Liu, Miles Dailey, George Monday, Nick Millkey, Joey Passarello, Owen Yancher, Will Ngo, Jordan Krestul, Sebastien Fouilloux and Ian Pascual each supplied firepower. 
MIND THE PEDESTRIAN… Narrowly avoiding being hit by oncoming traffic on two separate occasions in Downtown Atlanta, Nelson stepped up for two top-20 relay finishes. 
RIDE SHARE… Throughout the weekend, team members Gavin Hughes and Brendan Chen stepped up, shuttling swimmers back and forth between the GT pool and the Bruins' team hotel. 
BIG FISH… Between trials and finals, Bruin swimmers visited the Georgia Aquarium at Centennial Park. The facility houses 11 million gallons of water and is the largest aquarium in the United States and the third largest in the world.
SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY… The Bruins also made a stop at Silver Skillet, a historic Atlanta diner featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
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