The UCSB men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will head to Los Angeles this weekend, where a divers-only meet will be held at UCLA. The remaining members of the squad will swim a dual meet against USC at the Trojans’ home pool.

“I’ve never seen a team progress like we have,” sophomore Toby Moyneur said of the teams’ progress so far. “We started two months ago…I can only imagine what another two months will bring.”

In addition to UCSB, the invitational divers-only meet will include competitors from UCLA, USC, San Diego University, Stanford, Cal, Colorado State, Boise State, Tulane, San Diego State, Fresno State and Cal Poly.

UCSB will take three divers to UCLA: sophomores Max Brookman and Toby Moyneur and senior Missy Burley, who will once again be the Gauchos’ only representative for the women’s diving team. Brookman will be competing in the one-meter event, while Moyneur and Burley will each dive from both one-meter and three-meter boards.

“What I would like to see out of Max and Toby is that each round, they improve their score,” Head Coach Gregg Wilson said.

In addition to the men’s side, over 30 women will be competing against each other throughout the meet.

“Missy is going to have to put on a pretty good performance,” Wilson said. “And she’s ok with that, because she’s been doing quite well.”

The first diving season in over a decade has been a positive one thus far for UCSB. Burley has placed in the top three in multiple meets this season, including at home against Cal Poly this past November when she placed third on the three-meter board event. Wilson looks forward to the Gaucho diving team improving its talents this weekend against a more experienced Bruin squad.

“It’s gonna be a great opportunity, and a fun opportunity, to compete against some very good divers,” Wilson said.

Twelve miles away, Gaucho swimmers will be jumping into the pool in a dual meet against USC in the two teams’ first meeting since UCSB joined the Pac-10 this past fall.

The women’s swim team is currently a part of the MPSF, but ultimately would like to join the Pac-10, as the UCSB men have done this past fall.

“If we do well against USC we can give other teams in the MPSF a scare,” senior Brittany Borowitz said. “The MPSF championships are two months away, so this is a critical time for us.”

The USC women’s team was most recently ranked fifth in the CSCAA Top 25 poll, which was last updated Dec. 16. The Trojan men’s team is currently ranked at ninth in the nation in the same poll.

UCSB will attempt to carry momentum from this past weekend, when both the men’s and women’s teams entered the New Year with a victory over West Virginia at Campus Pool.

The diving meet at UCLA is set to begin today at noon at Spieker Aquatics Center on the Bruin campus. UCSB swimmers will begin their meet at USC the following day at noon.