Cougars suffer tough loss to Utah

PROVO, Utah – After 32 hard-fought events, BYU men’s and women’s swimming and diving lost a tough battle to Utah in the Deseret First Duel meet Friday at the Richards Building pool.

The men’s team scored 128 points to Utah’s 172, and the women’s team scored 125 points to their 175.

“Our women were not favored and really stepped up to every challenge that was faced before them so I'm happy for them,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “I was expecting it to be a little closer for the men and thought it would come down to the last event, but overall I was very proud of them.”

The team of Hailey Campbell, Riley Buer, Kimberly Doroghian and Andrea Grant kicked off the meet with an exciting win in the 200 medley relay. They clocked 1:44.87 to beat Utah by one second.

Campbell recorded the next win for the Cougars in the women’s 100 back with a time of 56.32. Jake Taylor earned the men’s team’s first win of the night in the 100 back by touching the wall in 48.94.

Chad Sorensen earned his first solo win of the night in the men’s 100 breast, finishing in 57.60.

Rainer Ng brought home the win for the men’s team in the 200 fly. He beat his Utah opponent with a time of 1:49.71.

Campbell recorded her second win of the night in the women’s 200 back, beating Utah with a time of 2:02.44.

Sorensen swam the 200 breast in 2:06.83 for his second victory of the night with teammate Hayden Palmer right behind at 2:07.08.

The BYU men and women dominated the 100 fly. Seniors Dorghian and Jordan Fletcher were victorious with times of 56.24 and 49.41, respectively. Freshman Lucas Aquino followed Fletcher at 49.88.

Senior Alexandra Dodds earned her solo win of the night in the women’s 400 IM. She beat her Utah opponent in a close race with a time of 4:31.17.

In an exciting win to end the meet, the women’s team took first place in the women’s 400 free relay. The team of Campbell, Valerie McMullan, Doroghian and Grant, finished the event ahead of Utah in 3:28.69.

Across the deck in the diving pool, Nicholas Suder earned second place in the men’s 1-meter with 312.90 points. In the women’s 3-meter, BYU finished in the top-5 with divers Raleigh Williams Taylor and Mackenzie Rands earning the fourth- and fifth-place positions scoring 271.13 and 267.60 points, respectively.

Bryce Farabee took second in the men’s 3-meter scoring 310.88. Suder followed close behind in third with 287.93 points. In the women’s 1-meter, Williams Taylor finished in third place with 258.45.

This was the last home meet for the senior men, some of whom Brooks and head diving coach, Keith Russell, have coached since their freshman year.

"I helped recruit every senior that is here so I have gotten to know some of them very well even before they came to BYU," Brooks said. "I am sad to see them go and we hope that they continue to be good legacies for us."

The diving team now heads to the Air Force Invite next weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo. The men’s swimming team competes the same weekend at Seattle and the women’s team the following weekend at home against Washington State.