Fourth Title in Four Years Goes To Cougars

OKLAHOMA CITY -- For the fourth year in a row, the BYU women’s swim and dive team came out with another Mountain West Conference Championship with junior Rachel Grant leading the way during Saturday’s competition. Despite a 0-5 MWC dual meet record on the season, the men finished in third place overall.

For the men, UNLV finished first overall with 787 points, Air Force in second (600.5), BYU in third (580.5), Wyoming in fourth (543), TCU in fifth (492) and Utah in sixth (401). The BYU women came out on top with 703 points, Wyoming in second (674), San Diego State in third (589), UNLV in fourth (386), Utah in fifth (377), Colorado State in sixth (366), TCU in seventh (233), New Mexico in eighth (214) and Air Force in ninth (150).

Jeff Ferrell started out Saturday’s competition earning five points and placing 12th in the 200 back with a preliminary time of 1:49.23 and a final time of 1:50.25.

Sophomore Candice Smith finished third in the 200 back to earn an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:57.85.

Christian Keil placed 16th in the 100 free with a preliminary time of 45.70 and a final time of 46.19.

The BYU women went 3-4-5 in the 100 free led by Kirsty Ferrell in third to achieve an NCAA-B cut with a time of 50.19 while teammates Aleesha Miller (50.31) and Sara Jayne Baldwin (50.37) placed fourth and fifth, respectively in the final heat. Freshman Taryn Toolson placed 10th in the event with a time of 51.16.

Junior Vytenis Slenys finished third in the 200 breaststroke with a preliminary time of 2:00.07 and a final time of 2:00.24. Senior Justin Morin finished 11th overall in the same event with a preliminary time of 2:02.35 and a final time of 2:03.44. Senior David Scott placed 12th with a preliminary time of 2:02.21 and a final time of 2:03.93. Freshman Hayden Palmer finished 16th in the 200 breast with a preliminary time of 2:05.36 and a final time of 2:08.32.

Freshman Londyn Clawson finished seventh in the women’s 200 breaststroke with a preliminary time of 2:17.91 and a final time of 2:18.17. Jodie Ellis and Kassy Bispo finished 12th and 13th, respectively, earning their best times in the prelims posting a 2:20.10 and 2:20.95.

Ryan Bills and Brenton Stevenson finished 11th and 13th, respectively in the 200 fly with times of 1:52.65 and 1:53.03 in the finals.

Junior Rachel Grant won the 200 fly with an NCAA-B cut time of 1:57.92 to earn 20 points for her Cougars, the team rankings being close with Wyoming 13 points behind BYU.

Representing the Cougars well in the 1650 free, John Kendrick placed fifth with a time of 15:31.17 while Chad Fong finished 16th with a time of 16:07.69. For the women, Natasha Menezes placed fourth with a time of 16:48.73 earning 15 points for her Cougars. Sophomore Amy Xu placed 11th in the event with a time of 17:03.72 while freshman Alina Fong finished right behind her in 12th, clocking in at 17:10.57.

Senior Tawni Jones finished third on the 5-meter platform with a final point total of 227.70 while freshman Dayna Christensen finished fifth with a score of 224.35.

The team of Keil, Daniel Bates, John Kendrick and Mason finished fifth in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:01.91 to end the meet with 28 points and finish in third place.

The Cougar women finished right behind Wyoming in first place in the 400 free relay with an NCAA-B cut time of 3:20.17. K. Ferrell led off, she was followed by Natasha Menezes and Baldwin and Miller anchored.

The divers will next head to NCAA Diving Regional in Houston, Texas March 4-6 while the women’s NCAA Championships will be held March 18-20 in Indianapolis, Ind. and the men’s NCAA Championships will be held March 25-27 in Columbus, Ohio.

For day three's results, click HERE.