Cougars sweep competition in Intermountain Shootout

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (Oct. 12,2013– After two days of competition, Brigham Young University dominated their opponents to earn a huge win Saturday in the Intermountain Shootout hosted by Colorado Mesa University. 

The Cougars also won in their dual meets against Colorado Mesa, Air Force and Colorado State.

The BYU men beat Colorado Mesa with a score of 266-95 and Air Force with a score of 212.5-138.5. The Cougar women beat Colorado Mesa with a score of 280-82 and Colorado State with a score of 192-176.

“A few of our swimmers had their personal lifetime best-times and some of our top swimmers are swimming really fast,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “This meet did what we wanted it to because it gave our swimmers a chance to perform at their best in their events.”

FRIDAY

The meet began Friday with the 200 medley relay. The women’s team of Hailey Campbell, Mallory Harris, Kimberly Doroghian and Alexandria Sorensen took second in the event falling by only three-hundreds of a second with a time of 1:45.79. For the men, Rainer Ng, Chad Sorensen, Jordan Fletcher and Brent Murray took first with a time of 1:31.85. The team of Jake Taylor, Andrew Rutherfurd, McKay King and Jacob Elieson followed close behind in second place.

The women swept the top four spots in the women’s 200 free. Valerie McMullan won touching the wall in 1:55.39. Teammates Doroghian, Andrea Grant and Allison McCormick followed right behind. For the men, Ng and Stott Bushnell took first and second place with times of 1:41.56 and 1:42.70 respectively.

The next event of the night was the 400 IM where Jessica Ampuero finished in 4:36.77, a full four seconds before the other women. Hayden Palmer had an awesome performance for the men with a time of 4:04.25 with teammates Rafael Alfaro and Stephen Richards close behind.

Chad Sorensen earned another first place finish for the Cougars in the 100 breast posting a time of 57.55.

Both the women’s and men’s teams earned a first place finish in the 50 free. Alexandria Sorensen won for the women with 24.14. Fletcher finished in an impressive time of 20.49 to earn the victory for the men’s team.

Campbell broke the El Pomar Natatorium record in the 100 back with a time of 55.79 to earn a big win for the women’s team. Ng and Taylor secured the top two spots for the men’s team. Ng came in just under 50 seconds with a time of 49.71 and Taylor just over with a time of 51.26.

The women’s team earned four-out-of-five top spots in the 50 fly. Doroghian and Sorensen put in even more work for the women’s team taking first and second place while Zerlynn Tiang and Haley Bertoldo secured fourth and fifth place. Lucas Aquino and Fletcher earned second and third place in the event for the men’s team in just 22.71 and 23.17 respectively.

In the last event of the night, three Cougars earned top-five spots in the women’s 1650 free including Camille Okelberry with a time of 18:10.38, Emily Harris in 18:28.44 and Cheyenne McLaws in 18:33.22. Jacob Davis earned fourth place for the men in 17:00.60.

SATURDAY

Saturday started with the 200 free relay where both the BYU men’s and women’s teams swept first place. The team of Doroghian, Campbell, Grant and Sorensen earned the win in 1:36.50 beating the pool record time by five-hundredths of a second. The men’s team of Fletcher, Taylor, Bushnell and Murray earned the win in 1:23.43.

The Cougars dominated the 200 fly event earning the top three positions for both the men and women. Doroghian touched the wall in 2:07.96 for the women’s win and Aquino in 1:50.88 for the men’s.

Harris and Sorensen took second in both breast events for the Cougars. Harris finished in 30.92 in the 50 breast and 2:20.99 in the 200 breast. Sorensen finished in 26.73 in the 50 breast and 1:59.74 in the 200 breast.

McMullan brought home the win for the women in the 500 free in 5:14.53 and Bushnell for the men in 4:45.07.

Ampuero earned second place in the 200 IM, finishing in 2:10.27. For the men, Hayden Palmer earned the win with an impressive time of 1:54.06.

The BYU women’s team performed well in the 100 free earning four of the top five positions in the event. Grant led the team in second with a time of 52.81. Murray also recorded a second place finish for the men in 46.35.

In the 100 back, Campbell came in just a second too late to earn the second place finish in the 200 back. Ng was strong for the Cougars in the men’s event and earned a first-place finish in just 1:53:00.

In the 100 fly, the women’s team dominated all top-five positions again with Doroghian winning in 55.51. The men’s team took the top two finishes with Aquino touching the wall in just 49.09 and Fletcher close behind in 49.25.

Johanna Skaggs had a third-place finish for the women in the 200 breast with a time of 2:27.63. Sorensen had his solo individual win on Saturday in the 200 breast with a time of 2:07.34.

The meet concluded with the 400 free relay where again, the Cougars owned the event. For the women, the team of Doroghian, Sorensen, Grant and McMullan placed first with a time of 3:32.72. The men’s team of Murray, Rutherfurd, Bushnell and Taylor came in close at second place in 3:07.54.

The Cougars are back at it next Saturday, Oct. 26 when they will host a meet at the Richards Building pool. The men's team will face Colorado Mesa and the women's team will face Boise State.