The men and women were unable to jockey any higher in the standings of the Speedo Cup and returned to Provo after a third and sixth place finish. Both teams had strong showings in the tournament that was eventually won by PAC-10 powerhouse Stanford, nationally ranked in the top six in both the men's and women's poll. The Cougars finished out the meet with their strongest showing coming out in day three.

On day two, the women posted three top-ten finishes with a 7th place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:49.28) and a 6th place finish in the 800 free relay (7:43.73). Shannon Bloom was the lone individual top-ten finisher on the day with an 8th place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:54.76.

The men had a strong day two showing with both relay teams placing second when the 200 medley relay team posted a time of 1:31.20 and the 800 free relay team finishing at 6:43.83.

The men also had seven swimmers place in the top-ten with Kenny Carpenter and John Malfatt placing 3rd and 7th in the 100 fly with times of 49.00 and 50.57. Malfatt also had a 6th place finish in the 100 back with a time of 51.29 and teammates Mark Chay and James Bekker placed 3rd and 9th in the same event with times of 50.93 and 51.72. The men's final top-ten performers came in the 100 breast with Adam Ware in 4th place, Nicholas Tobler in 6th place and Ben McKee in 10th place with the threesome touching the wall at 57.15, 57.31 and 57.88.

Both the men and women remained in third and sixth heading into the final day of competition that featured more top-ten finishes for both teams than any other day.

For the women, U-nice Chan placed in the top-ten in two events: 5th place in the 1650 free with a time of 17.23.59 and 7th in the 200 fly with a time of 2:09.20. The Cougars had a back-to-back finish in the 200 back when teammates Brittany Davis and Natasha Schlup finished 4th and 5th with times of 2:03.31 and 2:03.73. The final top finishers for the women came when sisters Shannon and Jamie Bloom finished with a 9th place spot for Shannon in the 100 free with a time of 53.02 and a 10th place finish for younger sister Jamie in the 200 breast, touching the wall at 2:22.30. The 400 free relay was the only other top-ten placing for the women in the last event of the tournament with the women posting a time of 3:33.36.

The men had their greatest success in the 200 breast on day three with four swimmers placing in the top-ten: Adam Ware in 4th (2:03.98), Nicholas Tobler in 5th (2:04.25), Christian Armstrong in 6th (2:04.72) and Ben McKee in 7th (2:05.04). The Cougars also had a strong showing in the 100 free with Mark Chay placing 3rd, Kenny Carpenter in 6th, and Chris Patience in 9th with times of 45.35, 45.71 and 46.62.

The team's final top-ten performances came in the 1650 free where Jeff Ferrell placed tenth with a time of 16:16.38, Joshua Johnson placing tenth in the 200 back with a time of 1:53.25 and Dougie Broadbent and Jeffrey Su placing 2nd and 6th in the 200 fly with times of 1:51.11 and 1:53.36.

The men best event of the day came when they captured a first place finish on the final event of the meet after posting a top time of 3:04.33 to win the 400 free relay. The Cougars also placed ninth in the event with a time of 3:08.03.

The swimmers will now train through the holidays as they prepare for meets to begin again in January. The pools will still in use with the divers having their final competition before the break with the BYU Diving Invitational being held December 3-4.

The men and women swimming teams will travel to Irvine, California tomorrow to participate in the annual Speedo Cup. The meet will span three days featuring over 20 teams and 578 swimmers participating in 18 events.

The meet will feature a Stanford team ranked no. 4 for men's swimming and no. 6 for women's swimming. The Cougars also appear in the rankings holding at the no. 22 spot for the men.

"The competition will be stiff, especially with Stanford there," Women's swimming head coach Stan Crump said. "It is a long meet with hundreds of entries, but I think if we stay focused we'll be good."

The Cougars have had success in the past at the Speedo Cup with wins last year in the 400 free relay for the men, and several top five finishes including sophomore Brittany Davis, second place in the 200 back; now missionary Zach Anderson placing second in the 1650 free; and sophomore Mark Chay second place in the 100 free.

The men have placed in the top five every year, but once, since 1993 and the women have also swam well in California placing in the top ten every year since 1993. Both the men and women have won the event overall with the men winning in 2002 and the women winning in 1998.

Complete results and an itinerary of each day are posted at: http://www.swim.uci.edu/2004speedocup.html