Cougars off to strong start at Texas Invite

Texas Invite Results-Day 1

AUSTIN, Texas – Jake Taylor led BYU in the timed relays on the first day of the Texas Invitational Wednesday night at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.

“Overall it was a pretty good start to the meet,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “It was a bit of a challenge since we left just this morning, but I expect some faster times tomorrow after a good night's rest for our team. Overall, it was a good stepping stone for us in the meet and for our season and where we want to be going.”

The first day of the invite consisted of one timed men’s and women’s 800-yard freestyle relay. Taylor, Preston Jenkins, Vanessa Moffatt and Zerlynn Tiang all led off for their respective relay teams and registered lifetime-best times in their individual 200-yard splits. Taylor swam a 1:36.10, with Jenkins registering a 1:38.77 split. Moffatt led off for her relay team with a 1:52.07, with Tiang racing to a split of 1:52.99.

In the women’s event, Ellie Thornbrue, Brenna Dickson, Emily Harris and Lauren Shaw Taylor registered the best finish for the Cougars with a time of 7:28.42, placing 16th.

On the men’s side, a team comprised of Taylor, Connor Stirling, Rainer Ng and Luis Ventura registered a 6:32.44 finish, good enough for a fifth-place result for the Cougars.

The Texas Invite will continue Thursday with the timed trials beginning at 9 a.m. CST, followed by the event finals at 6 p.m. CST. Fans can follow the meet on the live results page and complete results will be posted on the website at the conclusion of the day’s events.