BYU to Host Utah in Conference Opener

The BYU men's and women's swimming and diving teams will play host to in-state rival Utah on Friday, Oct. 25 in the Stephen L. Richards Building at 6:00 pm (MDT).

Scouting Report

The University of Utah women's team is young with 13 freshmen and only four returning lettermen. Last year at the Mountain West Conference Championships the women finished the season with a fourth place finish. Last week the Utes traveled to California for dual meets against UC Irvine and San Diego State. Utah won both of the meets to start the regular season at 2-0.

The Utah men are looking to improve on their fifth place conference finish last season. The Utes have nine newcomers and are returning three lettermen. The men's team also began the 2002-03 season by defeating UC Irvine last week where they took away 12 of 16 events. The men begin their conference play against BYU on Friday.

Kicking Off The Season

The BYU women started off the 2002-03 season with a third place finish at the Pacific Invitational. Sophomore Nichole Burrows led the way for the Cougars winning the 100 back with a time of 58.52. The Cougars had a strong showing in the relays by taking the 400-meter freestyle relay, and placing second in the 200 free relay.

As for the men's team, they finished second to nationally ranked Stanford. Brazilian transfer Diogo Yabe won the 100 fly with a time of 49.76, just .1 seconds off of the school record set back in 1983. Senior Jeff Mason placed second in the 100 free and third in the 200 free, senior Brent Parker placed third in the 50 free, and the Cougar relay teams placed second in both the 400 and 800-meter freestyle relays.

The Last Time ...

Last season the Cougars won both dual meets against the Utes. In their last meeting on Feb. 8, 2002, the BYU men won 10 of 13 events while the women's team won nine of their 13 events. Gary Tan set a BYU pool record in the 400 IM with a time of 3:59.82. The men's team took the first four places in the 50 free, onr their way to a 124-77 victory.

All-American Cortnee Adams won the 100 and 200 free, while junior Heidi Leitz took the 50 free. The 200 medley relay team won by a full two seconds with a time of 1:48.14. The women's squad won 147-96, improving on their seven-point margin of victory back in November.

The Cougars swept all of the diving events with junior diver Kelli Einfeldt winning the 1-M and 3-M events in both dual meets between the two teams last season. All-American Justin Wilcock won the 3-M and freshman Andy Bradley won the 1-M diving events for the men.