Swimmers and Divers Escape the Cold for the Anteater Shootout

PROVO -- Both the men’s (1-0) and women’s (3-0) swim and dive teams will travel to Long Beach, Calif. for the Anteater Shootout Friday and Saturday at the warm and sunny Anteater Aquatics Complex.

“We’re looking forward to it and so are the kids,” said BYU head coach Tim Powers. “It’s good that the kids are excited because that usually translates into good swimming.”

Not only will the swimmers and divers compete against all the teams, but will use the competition as a dual meet against UNLV. Eight teams will compete on the men’s side, including host UC Irvine, Air Force, Cal Poly, Hawaii, UC Davis and Cal State Northridge. For the women, a total of 11 teams will compete including Stanford, Cal Poly, Hawaii, Idaho and Pepperdine Friday with UC Davis, UNLV, BYU, Cal State Northridge and San Diego.

Friday the BYU men will be scored in dual meets against UC Davis, UNLV and Cal State Northridge in one pool and UCI, Air Force, Cal Poly and Hawaii in the other pool. The top two teams from each pool will compete Saturday.

The BYU women will compete with UC Davis, UNLV, Cal State Northridge and San Diego in one pool with Stanford, UCI, Cal Poly, Hawaii and Idaho in the other pool. The top three women’s teams from each pool will compete together Saturday.

“Stanford on the women’s side will be very tough,” said Powers. “Hawaii and UCI have also always been good competition.”

Not only are the swimmers and divers excited for the southern California sunshine, many of them are excited to compete in front of family and friends. “It will be good for them to be there and swim in front of their families,” said Powers. “One of our divers, Ron Morris, is from about 20 minutes from there—he has a chance to show off.”

Mountain West Conference Swimmers of the Week, John Kendrick and Rachel Grant will be back in the water to add Cougar points to the score. Kendrick won both the 500 (4:45.63) and 1000 free (9:45.73) events while Grant won three individual events against TCU including the 100 fly (56.22), 200 IM (2:05.67) and 200 fly (2:01.30), as well as finishing first in the 400 IM (4:27.95) against UNM and TCU.

MWC Diver of the Week, Tawni Jones, also looks forward to lengthen her 1-meter win streak to three, helping the Cougars come out with another win. Jones won both the 3-meter (297.90) and 1-meter (297.90) events against TCU, also winning the 1-meter (299.80) competition against UNM and NAU.

The Cougar women are coming off of three victories against TCU, UNM and NAU, while the Cougar men are also undefeated with one win against in-conference TCU.

Last year, the men competed in the Lincoln Shootout against UC Irvine, Cal State Northridge and Hawaii, coming out on top against each team except Hawaii.

The meet will begin Friday at 12:00 p.m. and Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Updates will be posted here on www.byucougars.com/swimming_diving/.

For more information on the Anteater Shootout, please see http://ucirvinesports.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/110308aaa.html.