Cougars Finish Weekend in Top Spots

STOCKTON, Calif. –After a weekend in California for the Pacific Invitational, the women dominated day two and returned home with first place while the men fell just short of Stanford for second place.

The women’s team racked up 1129 points ahead of University of the Pacific’s 801 and University of San Diego’s 766. For the men, Stanford gained 1055.5 points while BYU received 829.5 for second place ahead of University of the Pacific’s 703 points.

“We worked hard and definitely swam well,” BYU head coach Tim Powers said. “Our swimmers were going nonstop, so it was definitely a workout for them, but I’m proud of the way they swam and I saw a lot of good things.”

The 200 free relay was the first event to kick off day two. The women’s team consisting of Taryn Toolson, Kim Welch, Andrea Grant and Hailey Campbell came in at first with their time of 1:36.21.

Welch had another first-place finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:03.75, while Campbell gained another first-place win as well in the 100 back with a time of 57.17.

Sophomore Allie Dodds touched in at first place in the 500 free with a time of 5:04.94 while teammate Alia Welsh grabbed third place with 5:07.85.

Welch tallied another first place win in the 200 IM with her time of 2:08.63 while Rafael Alfaro touched in for sixth place in the same event with a time of 1:54.64.

Candice Smith and Campbell gained a 1, 2 sweep of the 200 backstroke with Smith in first at 2:04.16 and Campbell right behind her with 2:04.55.

With a time of 56.57, Welch swam for first place in the 100 butterfly. Jordan Fletcher recorded a fourth-place finish in the same event with a time of 49.84.

The women’s 800 free relay team ended the invitational with a close second-place finish next to the University of San Diego with their final time of 7:42.87. The relay team consisted of Campbell, Dodds, Smith and Angela Bennion.

Next up, the Cougar dive team will travel to Los Angeles for the Trojan Dive invite while the swim team will stay home for a meet against UNLV, both on Nov. 4.