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Anonymous | Posted: 18 Nov 2007 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
Anonymous

Second-Place Finishes for Both Men and Women at Nike Cup

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LONG BEACH -- After the conclusion of the Nike Cup on Saturday night, both the BYU men's and women's teams posted second-place finishes. The Cougar men finished with 1002 points which was second only to No. 3 Stanford, while the women swimmers tallied 887.5 points to finish second to No. 14 UCLA.

"The guys looked very good tonight," BYU men's coach Tim Powers said. "Our team has been swimming well on very short rest, which I am very pleased with."

In the longest race at the Nike Cup, the 1650 freestyle, the Cougars saw their most dominating performance. BYU senior Travis Price took first place with a time of 15:36.91, seven seconds faster than anyone else in the race. But he was not alone among the event's top finishers as fellow teammates Zach Anderson, Sammy Bates and Neal Hamilton touched the wall in fourth, sixth and seventh places, respectively.

The BYU women also did very well in the 1650 free. Cougar Natasha Menezes finished in third place as she swam the race in 17:07.02 while her sister Michelle placed in seventh with a time of 17:15.13. Celliegh McHenry also had a respectable finish as she came in 11th with a time of 17:26.76.

"The team finished the meet very well," BYU women's coach Stan Crump said. "Although we did not win as a team like we did last year, the competition has been much higher this year, and I think that has helped our team's performance overall."

Cougar senior Jamie Bloom also helped boost her team's score with a third-place finish in the 200 breast as she set a new season-best time with 2:18.49. Another individual event that saw a notable performance by the Cougars was the 200 backstroke. The brother tandem of John and Jeff Ferrell finished in seventh and eighth, with times of 1:50.82 and 1:53.77, respectively.

Freshman Rachel Grant had another great swim as she placed in second in the 200 butterfly, improving on her previous season-best mark with a time of 2:00.74. Jeffrey Su also set a new season-best mark in the 200 fly as he touched the wall in sixth place with a time of 1:50.12.

Both the Cougar men and women swimmers will next be in action on Nov. 29-Dec. 1 as they travel to take part in the US National Meet in Atlanta.

Click here to view results from Friday.

Final Team Scores  

Women

Team Points

1. UCLA 1498.5

2. Brigham Young 887.5

3. Pacific 795

4. Rice 727

5. San Jose State 558

6. UC Irvine 523

7. UC San Diego 439

8. New Mexico 379.5

9. Pepperdine 310

10. Loyola Marymount 249

11. Air Force 223.5

12. San Diego 223

13. Cal State Northridge 195

14. UC Santa Cruz 184

15. Alaska 162.5

16. Cal Lutheran 118

17. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 86

18. Fresno Pacific 68

19. Grand Canyon 56

20. Soka 22

20. La Verne 22

22. Occidental 14

Men

Team Points

1. Stanford 1965

2. Brigham Young 1002

3. Air Force 847

4. Pacific 678

5. UC Davis 517

6. UC Irvine 449

7. Cal Baptist 377

8. UC San Diego 360

9. Cal State Northridge 288

10. UC Santa Cruz 254

11. Fresno Pacific 153

12. Cal Lutheran 152

13. Grand Canyon 146

14. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 96

15. Occidental 24

16. La Verne 22

17. Soka 7

 

 
Anonymous | Posted: 14 Nov 2007 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
Anonymous

Swimmers are Ready to Jump in the Water Again

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PROVO -- The BYU men's and women's swim teams hit the road again on Thursday as they travel to Long Beach, Calif., to participate in the Nike Cup for three consecutive days. There are 23 women's teams that will be a part of the competition, while 17 teams make up the men's side of the event that is hosted by UC Irvine.

The Nike Cup will take place at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. The competition runs Thursday through Saturday with swimming beginning each day at 9 a.m. and finals running every night at 6 p.m.

"The Nike Cup is a meet that is watched by all the major national swimming organizations," BYU men's coach Tim Powers said. "We look at this meet as a good chance to see how our team performs in a three-day trial/final meet which is the same way the Mountain West Conference and NCAA Championships are structured."

The three-day trail/final meet consists of events being held on one day only with a preliminary round earlier in the day and the event finals in the evening.

There are also no restrictions on how many events swimmers can race in at the Nike Cup. As a result, the coaches will get a chance to look at how athletes will do in events that they do not usually swim in dual meets due to constraints on swimmer involvement.

On the men's side, Stanford is the highest-ranked team that will be in attendance as the Cardinal is currently No. 3 in the country. The No. 14-ranked UCLA Bruins are the highest-ranked team that will be participating in the women's team contest.

"We just want to get a little bit better every time we get in the water," BYU women's coach Stan Crump said. "Although there will be some good teams that we see this weekend, we just need to know that we don't need to set the world on fire with our swims but concentrate on getting better."

Results for each day of the Nike Cup will be posted at byucougars.com/swimming_diving.