Cougars breeze by Falcons

PROVO -- The men and women swimming team made easy work of the Air Force Falcons on Friday with both teams winning easily. The men posted a final mark of 142-96 while the women swam away with a 154-74 score.

"Air Force was swimming well, regardless of what the score said," women's head coach Stan Crump said. "I was particularly impressed with some of our swims. Natasha's (Schlup) 200 back (2:04.48) and Jamie Bloom's 200 breast (2:21.16) were really impressive."

The women posted the top time or score in each of the 13 events. Outside of Schlup and Bloom other Cougar top finishers included sophomore Brittany Davis in the 1000 free (10:39.48), freshman U-Nice Chan in the 200 free (1:56.71) and 500 free (5:08.99), sophomore Hannah Palmer in the 50 free (24.10), freshman Tara Bradshaw in the 200 IM (2:10.81), freshman Angela Nelson on both the 1-meter (183.00) and 3-meter (199.95), freshman Angela Goodson in the 200 fly (2:12.42), and junior Shannon Bloom in the 100 free (53.90). The Cougars also posted top times in both the 400 free relay with a time of 3:03.63 and the 400 medley relay, touching the wall at 4:03.07.

The final score for the women did not include the points that the Cougars garnered in both the diving apparatus and the final two events of the night, the 200 breast and 400 free relay. The men were also able to post impressive numbers despite not taking the full points from the final two events.

"I think we swam very well," men's head coach Tim Powers said. "All of our times were really good and the guys all seemed ready for any challenge that came our way."

The men only dropped three events to the Falcons on their way to the victory. The Cougars top finishers were senior Kenny Carpenter in the 200 free (1:42.27) and 200 fly (1:51.18), sophomore Brett Allen in the 50 free (20.77), sophomore Mark Chay in the 200 IM (1:52.47), senior Scott Randall on both the 1-meter (213.55) and 3-meter (195.15), Jorge Azevedo in the 100 free (45.98) and Adam Ware in the 200 breast (2:05.69). The men also swam the best times in both the 400 free relay (3:03.63) and the 400 medley relay (4:03.07).

The Cougars will now look to their match-up against a stronger Wyoming team Saturday at noon. Wyoming features one of the top swimmers in the nation in senior Scott Usher who swam in the finals of the Olympic games in Athens.