Men's Swimming Headed to California

PROVO -- The BYU men's swimming team gets to take part in its first scored event against a team other than its own as they travel to California to take part in the Lincoln Shootout. The event begins Friday at 12 p.m. at the Anteater Aquatics Complex on the campus of UC Irvine.

There are five teams, including the Cougars, which are participating in the Lincoln Shootout. The four other teams are UC Irvine, UC Northridge, Cal Poly and Hawaii. BYU won this meet two years ago in 2005.

"This meet gives us a chance to participate against teams that are usually ranked," BYU coach Tim Powers said. "I am sure we will see some good competition, but anytime we have a chance to swim we have a chance to improve."

This event will run on Friday and Saturday and will have a modified dual-meet scoring format. Each team will be scored in a head-to-head format on each day but the points have been modified for some of the events. For example, the relays will be scored more heavily for the winner as the winning team will receive seven points but no one else in the race will be rewarded any points.

BYU will be led this weekend by its seniors Neal Hamilton, Jeffrey Su, John Ferrell and Zach Anderson. Hamilton will be very busy this weekend as he is expected to participate in freestyle, backstroke and IM events. Su will also help anchor the Cougars, as he will take part in freestyle and butterfly events.

This weekend's Lincoln Shootout is the first of three events that take place in three consecutive weeks for BYU. These three events will lead the men's team right up to the Thanksgiving break.