Sophomore Brandon Watson won both diving events Friday to highlight the annual Blue/White Meet.
The sophomore from Riverton, Utah returned just over a month ago from a church mission to Chihuahua, Mexico. Watson, a first-team All-American, won both the one-meter and the platform diving events, but his efforts came short for his White team which lost to the Blue team, 244-155.
“Brandon is picking up where he left off,” said BYU coach Tim Powers. “He beat the diver of the year (MWC) Ron Morris (competing for the Blue).
“I’m pleased, too, with our freshmen who were not intimidated with the competition. Racing tells us what we need to work on, but this was mostly a fun meet where many of our team swam events in which they don’t normally compete”
One of those swimmers was sophomore Rachel Grant who won the 100-meter breaststroke for the Blue team. Normally Grant competes in the individual medley and butterfly events.
Among the most competitive events cited by Powers was the 100-meter breast which was won by Vytenis Slenys, a sophomore from Lithuania, competing for the Blue team as well.
The Blue/White meet served as a tune-up for the five upcoming events next month as well as gave additional evidence for Powers to trim his squad.
PROVO -- The BYU men's and women's swim and dive teams will be back in the Richards Building pool Friday afternoon as they take part in the annual inter-squad Blue and White Meet at 3 p.m.
“It will be a fun meet for the walk-ons to showcase their abilities and for the captains to have a chance to lead,” said BYU head coach Tim Powers. “We are looking forward to getting together to swim some competitive races.”
Captains for the 2009-10 season are John Kendrick, David Mason, Sara Jayne Christiansen Baldwin and Natasha Menezes. The captains will choose who will be swimming what events for their respective teams – the events will be the same as in high school with the longest event being the 500 free.
This is the first event of the season to prepare the team for the freshman and sophomore meet next week and the Pacific Invitational Oct. 16-17 in Stockton, Calif.
For more information visit www.byucougars.com/swimming_diving
BLUE TEAM:
JOHN KENDRICK
GARRETT GREENLAND
HAYDEN PALMER
JOSH TANNER
DANIEL BATES
AUSTIN BROWN
DOUGIE BROADBENT
DAVID SCOTT
VYTENIS SLENYS
BRENT STEVENSON
BRANDON CLAY
CORY HILLS
RON MORRIS
SCOTT THALMAN
NIC SUDAR
SAM HATCH
SARA JAYNE BALDWIN
KIRSTY FERRELL
RACHAEL GRANT
CANDICE SMITH
ALINA FONG
LONDYN CLAWSON
ADDY MARSH
MELISSA MANSER
MARNIE KNOOP
KARALEE FULLER
SAMANTHA CRIST
ABBY LLOYD
KELSEY DICKSON
TAWNI JONES
MIKENNA CLOWARD
SYRENA MISKIN
WHITE TEAM:
DAVID MASON
JOSHUA ARMANTROUT
RYAN BILLS
JAMES GILLETTE
ANDREW MERRELL
DANIEL BATES
JEFF FERRELL
JUSTIN MORIN
CHAD FONG
JASON RASMUSSEN
CAMRON WALKER
BRANDON WATSON
MATT HOOPER
TRAVIS DAY
NATASHA MENEZES
ALEESHA MILLER
AMY XU
MICHELLE MENEZES
ALI SIGGARD
KASSY BISPO
TARYN TOOLSON
JODIE ELLIS
KELSEY HIGGINSON
AMANDA HENINGER
ERIN PABST
MEGAN STONE
AVA JACKMAN
DANA CHRISTENSEN
EMILY WOODS