BYU Dominates Rival Utah For Second Time

SALT LAKE CITY -- The women's and the No. 17 BYU men's swimming and diving teams defeated conference rival Utah for the second time this season, Tuesday night at Ute Natatorium in Salt Lake City.

The men's squad dominated the Utes, winning all but one event en route to a 150-66 win. With the win, the men's team remains unbeaten on the season with a 9-0 record. The women recorded wins in only six of 13 events but won by a 139-102 margin to move to 9-3 on the season.

The men had a solid performance by the entire team. Sophomore Jeff Mason won the 50 free and the 100 free, and also swam on the winning 200 free relay team. Other first-place finishers for the Cougars included senior All-American Arunas Savickas in the 100 fly, Gary Tan in the 200 free, Alex Denke in the 500 free, Ryan Ayres in the 1650 free and Nick Tobler in the 100 breast. The 200 medley relay team also swam to a first-place finish.

For the women, sophomore Amanda Grant won the 200 free and finished second in the 100 breast. Other first-place winners for BYU included Tamber Covington in the 400 IM, Melissa Thompson in the 100 back and Jennifer Tasker in the 100 breast. The 200 medley relay team of Tina Adkinson, Heidi Lietz, Nikki Tadlock and Tasker swam to a first-place finish with a time of 1:48.29.

On the other end of the pool, sophomore All-American Aaron Russell won the 1-meter springboard event while teammate Justin Wilcock finished first on the 1-meter board. For the women, senior Anna Tutunnikova won the 1-meter event with a season-high score of 267.82, while teammate Kelli Einfeldt finished second on the 3-meter board.

The men's and women's swimming and diving teams will compete against conference opponents Air Force and Wyoming, Friday and Saturday. Friday's competition will begin at 6 p.m., while Saturday's competition will begin at noon. Some of BYU's divers will compete in Provo this weekend against the Falcons and Cowboys while some will be Tucson, Arizona competing in the Arizona Diving Invitational, Friday and Saturday.