Day One Of Toshiba Classic

LONG BEACH -- The BYU swim team finished up day one of the Toshiba Classic Thursday night at the Belmont Olympic Pool in Long Beach, Calif.

“We’re swimming against some really good teams who are recording lifetime bests,” BYU head coach Tim Powers said. “It’s been a little hard because there are so many teams competing with some very talented swimmers. But we have a lot to look forward to in day two and for the time being, we’re just trying to do our best and improve.”

The Cougars experienced a disappointment when the men’s 400 free relay team was disqualified due to an early jump, costing the team a potential 40 points.

“It’s hard for those kinds of things to happen, but what’s important here is that we are growing,” Powers said. “Some of the teams here want to do their absolute best at this meet. We want to do our very best at the conference champs.”

The women’s 200 free relay team consisting of Taryn Toolson, Sam Crist, Sara Jayne Baldwin and Aleesha Miller took ninth with a time of 1:34.08.

In the 500 freestyle, senior John Kendrick placed 13th with a time of 4:31.38, while freshman Allie Dodds recorded a time of 4:59.46 in the prelims, earning her 26th place.

Rachel Grant placed seventh in the prelims of the 200 IM with a time of 2:01.26. She then went on to place sixth in the finals with an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 2:00.40.

Freshman Jake Taylor touched in at 1:51.74 in the prelims of the 200 IM before continuing on to take 11th in the finals, recording a time of 1:50.68.

The women’s 400 medley relay team of Candice Smith, Kim Welch, Baldwin and Miller placed eighth with a time of 3:47.63. In the same event, the men’s team consisting of Taylor, Ryan Krause, Christian Keil and Chad Sorenson also placed eighth with a time of 3:25.29.

Check back to www.byucougars.com/swimming_diving for updates on the Toshiba Classic Invite.