Familiar faces support BYU swim and dive at annual alumni meet

PROVO, Utah–BYU swimming and diving finished off its preseason scrimmages with some competition from past swimmers in its annual alumni meet Friday afternoon at the Richards Building Pool.

“It’s fun for the swimmers to see the alumni come back, and to see what they can do in a swimsuit,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “We are grateful for all those that came back to participate. Our first meet is coming up this week, so this is a good benchmark for our current swimmers. Some of our returned missionaries are starting to get that speed back, so that’s good to see for them too.”

Along with a familiar group of former BYU swimmers, assistant coach Yolanda Bates was also in the mix, competing in several different events and keeping up with the current crop of athletes.

The night started out with the women’s 200 yard medley relay, with the team of Ashlee Spindler, Anna Dahl, Lillian Moore and Alexandria Sorensen taking first with a time of 1:49.90. A relay team made up of Jake Taylor, Stephen Richards, Rainer Ng and Payton Sorenson won the men’s side of the event, clocking a time of 1:32.47.

Freshman Kelly Hatanaka got a win in the 200 individual medley, finishing the race in 2:08.24. Stephen Richards won the men’s 200 IM, swimming to a 1:55.48 finish.

Alexandria Sorensen took the women’s 50 free, posting a 24.32 finish. Freshman Connor Stirling earned a first-place finish in the men’s side of the event, finishing with a time of 21.14.

In the 50 backstroke, Ashlee Spindler won the women’s side of the event with a time of 27.82, while Ng took the men’s side with a 23.01 finish.

Ng and Spindler both repeated as winners in the 100 back event, finishing with times of 51.19 and 1:00.34, respectively.

To finish off the meet, groups from both men’s and women’s teams competed in the 200 free relay. A team comprised of Sorensen, Alora Foliaki, Katie Smith and Ellie Thornbrue won the women’s event, finishing in 1:38.60. On the men’s side, Taylor, Stirling, Kent Fellows and Payton Sorenson won the relay, posting a finishing time of 1:23.26.

The divers hosted a non-scored event, where current divers, swimmers and some alumni participated. Head diving coach Tyce Routson even suited up for the Cougars, teaching his divers how to mark a perfect score by example.

The Cougars will travel to Colorado Mesa University next Friday to officially kick off the season in the Colorado Mesa Invite Oct. 9-10.