2012-2013 Season Preview

After taking first place in their inaugural year in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation last season, the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams look to repeat their success this year.

“We will have a target on our backs this year after winning MPSF last year,” head coach John Brooks said. “We will have to work hard to defend our title last year. We have an outstanding guys team and a very deep girls team this year.”

BYU made a splash in the MPSF last season as 13 members of the team made first team all-conference and 25 swimmers made second team all-conference.

The team captains for the men’s team are seniors Brady Wells and Garret Beaman. Senior captains Taryn Toolson Lewis and Londyn Clawson will lead the women’s team.

Free Style Sprints

The men’s sprint team will be led by returning all-conference performers Jordan Fletcher, Garret Beaman and Stott Bushnell.  Beaman looks to repeat as conference champion in the 100 free this season. Freshman Payton Sorenson hopes to add depth to the sprint team as well.

Lewis and sophomore Andrea Grant look to lead the women’s team, as both were all-conference performers last season. Hailey Campbell, Angela Bennion and Alexandria Sorensen will be counted on to make an impact as well.  

Distance

Samuel Bates looks to finish up his senior year strong as a member of the distance team at BYU.  He will be joined by distance specialist Robert Miner and Bushnell on the team. Freshman Shawn Western looks to make an immediate impact for the next season.

The women’s distance team is deep with Alexandra Dodds, Alia Welsh and Alina Fong all returning this year.  Both Dodds and Welsh received All-Conference recognition for their performance last season.

Backstroke

The men will look to Christian Hanselmann and Fletcher to have strong seasons for the Cougars. Incoming freshman Preston Jenkins will have an immediate impact this season after taking first place in the 100 back at the 2011 Winter Junior Nationals.

Campbell aims to make a big impact in her specialty event this season for the women’s team. Last season she placed first at the MPSF in the 100 and 200 back while qualifying for the NCAAs in the 200 back. They will look to seniors Londyn Clawson and Adelin Marsh to add depth to the team.

Breaststroke

Top returners for the breastroke team are Brady Wells and Andrew Rutherfurd. Wells hopes to improve on his third-place finishes last season at the MPSF in the 100 and 200 breast.

Kassandra Bispo and Clawson return for their senior seasons to lead the women’s team. Clawson was an all-conference performer last season with her seventh place finish in the 200 breast. Lewis and Meghan O’Very look to add depth to the team. Incoming freshman Mallory Harris is hoping to score points for the team this year.

Butterfly

David Armstrong returns for his sophomore season after a strong freshman campaign where he won first place at the MPSF meet and set the meet record in the 100 fly. Fletcher returns as an all-conference performer in the 100 fly and Gary Arthur returns for his senior season to add more depth to the team.

Kimberly Welch Doroghian returns to lead the women’s team after earning all-conference recognition last season. Amanda Heninger returns as well to finish her career strong after suffering an injury last season and having to redshirt. Freshman Zerlynn Tiang will add talent to the team as well.

Individual Medley

Wells and Rutherfurd both return to lead the men’s IM team. Hayden Palmer returns from his mission and freshman Western will bring experience to the team.

The women’s team will be led by juniors Dodds and Jessica Ampuero and sophomore Welsh who were all-conference performers last season. Freshman Harris looks to be a great addition to the team.

Diving

The women’s team will be led by senior, two-time MPSF champion Dayna Christensen who hopes to represent BYU at the NCAA Nationals in March. Also returning are junior Raleigh Williams Taylor and sophomore Haley Francois who were both all-conference performers last season.

The men’s team will have big shoes to fill as All-American Brandon Watson and Travis Day have graduated and Kevin Dreesen and Matt Denkers have left on their missions. They will look to Nicholas Suder to continue where he left off before his mission and for freshman Edward Young to make an impact immediately this year.

The captains for the diving team will be Dayna Christensen and Nicholas Suder.

“The BYU diving team will do well this season,” head diving coach Keith Russell said. “The women’s team has many returners from last season and the men’s team is young but not short on talent. They will both continue the tradition of excellent diving at BYU.”