Cougars enter weekend with momentum after day two of Conference Championships

ST. GEORGE, Utah / MISSION VIEJO, Calif. — Alexia Jackson's performance gave the Cougars a first-place finish in the 3-meter dive Thursday morning, as the Cougars find themselves within the top three in the standings on both the men and women's side.

The men currently sit in second place with 239 points, trailing only UC Santa Barbara by one, while the women are in third place with 194 points, trailing Hawai'i and UC San Diego.

Diving

Alexia Jackson highlighted the diving team's performance on day two of the MPSF Championships, scoring a 300.85 prelim score and a 323.70 final score in the 3-meter event, resulting in a first place finish for the Cougars. 

Hailey Johnson and Brooklyn Larson also qualified for the finals in the event, with Johnson scoring a 279.80, good for fifth place, and Larson posting a 250.15, good for eighth place overall. The consolation finals also featured a first place finish by Sophia DeBergh with a 271.50. Tomorrow's event will be the 1-meter dive, as the women will look to continue their strong performances to start the week. 

In the 1-meter event, it was Chase Hindmarsh, Mickey Strauss, Cody Dreesen, Nathan Marshall and Carter Davis who competed for the men's team. Hindmarsh, Strauss and Dreesen finished the prelim event with the highest finishes among the Cougar divers with Hindmarsh scoring a 343.40, Strauss scoring a 326.20, and Dreesen posting a 308.10. The Cougar divers finished in third, fourth, and fifth place to qualify for the final round of the event. 

In the finals, Strauss narrowly placed second behind Hawai'i's Mackaby Pennington, finishing with a 342.15. Hindmarsh placed fourth after posting a 332.00, while Dreesen ultimately placed fifth with a 302.35. 

The consolation finals featured a second place finish by Marshall after posting a  273.50, while Davis' 184.00 was good for eighth in the event. 

Swimming

The men's team featured five top-8 finishers at the Human Performance Center in Thursday evening's final events. In the 50-yard freestyle, it was Luigi Riva who swam a 20.08 for a fourth-place finish.

The 200-yard IM was the highlight of the day for the men's team, as it featured third-, seventh- and eighth-place finishes by Brad Prolo, swimming a 1:46.11, Tama Tuitama, swimming a 1:48.67, and Will Bonnett, posting a 1:48.95. Finally, it was Abe Barragan coming in sixth place in the 500-yard freestyle after swimming a 4:25.77 for the Cougars. 

Other notable finishes by the men came in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as Brigham Harrison, Abe Zimmerman, Riva and Javier Nicolas Matta placed third in the event with a 1:19.34 time.  

For the women, three top-8 finishes were swam by the Cougar athletes in the final rounds. The 50-yard freestyle featured Halli Williams' 22.98, good for a third-place overall finish. 

Katie McBratney-Graves and Megan Bergstrom both had sixth-place finishes in their events, with McBratney-Graves swimming the 200-yard IM in 2:02.96, while Bergstrom competed in the 500-yard freestyle, swimming a 4:53.07.

The women also finished in sixth place in the 200-yard freestyle relay event, swimming a 1:33.27 to accumulate 26 points for the team. 

This weekend's events will begin tomorrow, as the swimmers begin competing at 10 a.m. MDT while the divers will begin at 10 a.m. PDT. A live stream of the meets can be purchased on a pay-per-view option found at mpsports.org. Event results can also be followed on the BYU Swim and Dive social media pages on Instagram and Twitter.