Swimmers and Divers Sweep Washington

PROVO -- The 17th-ranked BYU men's swimming and diving team overcame a slow start but defeated the University of Washington 142-95, Saturday afternoon, at the Richards Building Pool. The women's team also defeated the Huskies, 131-108.

The men's team was led by senior All-American Arunas Savickas. Savickas dominated the 500 free, beating the second-place finisher by 16 seconds while setting a new pool record with his time of 4:27.13. He also won the 200 free with a time of 1:38.61 and swam on the second-place 200 medley relay team. Other first-place finishers included Mike Mullen in the 50 free, Gary Tan in the 200 back and Jeff Mason in the 100 free.

"Washington is a good team and they always come ready to compete," head men's coach Tim Powers said. "We showed some rust from the long layoff but swam well. This was a good test for us because we were being pressured and had to overcome an early deficit."

For the women, first-place finishers included Heidi Lietz in the 50 free, Codi Jensen in the 1000 free and Amy McClellan in the 200 back. Second-place finishers included Monica Ferrell in the 200 free and the 200 fly, Ashlee Rumfallow in the 200 IM, Amanda Grant in the 100 free and the 200 breast, and Jennifer Teerlink in the 200 back. The relay team of Teerlink, Lietz, Jennifer Tasker and Nikki Tadlock won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:47.32.

At the other end of the pool, the men's diving team grabbed the top-three spots on both the 1-meter and the 3-meter boards. Sophomore All-American Aaron Russell won the 3-meter event and finished second on the 1-meter board Justin Wilcock won the 1-meter board and finished second in the 3-meter event while junior Viraj Patil finished third on both boards. For the women, sophomore Kelli Einfeldt swept both boards, winning the 1-meter and the 3-meter events. Tessa Clark finished second on both boards while Rachelle Routsong finished third on both the 1-meter and the 3-meter board.

Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams will travel to Salt Lake City to face conference rival Utah, Tuesday, at 6 p.m.

to participate in the Speedo Cup, Nov. 30-Dec. 2.