Sorenson and Jenkins impress in second day of American Short Course Championships

American Short Course Championship Results-Day 2

AUSTIN, Texas – Preston Jenkins and Payton Sorenson earned Olympic trial cuts at the American Short Course Championship Friday at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.

“We had a really good morning and were able to get a couple of trial cuts,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “Preston got his cut in the 200 back and Payton got his in the 100 free, so that’s really exciting. Ellie Thornbrue also pulled off a great performance in the 100 butterfly. We have one morning to go and hopefully we can post some fast short course times.”

Sorenson and Jenkins qualified for the upcoming Olympic trials during the morning preliminaries. Sorenson earned his qualification in the 100-meter freestyle with a 50.22, while Jenkins, who earned his second trial cut of the week, met the time in the 200 backstroke with a 2:02.54.

Thursday morning’s preliminaries included qualifying events for the 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 400 free, 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley. BYU qualified three swimmers for the 100 free championship finals, four to the 200 back, two for the 200 breaststroke, five for the 100 fly and six for the 200 IM championship finals.

Thornbrue had the fastest time for the Cougars in the women’s 100 free, posting a 1:00.33 for fifteenth place. Connor Stirling sprinted to a 53.05 in the men’s final to earn eighth overall.

In the women’s 200 back, Lauren Shaw Taylor placed eighth, swimming a 2:34.15. On the men’s side, Shawn Western clocked a 2:07.30, good enough for fifth place.

Anna Dahl was the top finisher for the BYU women in the 200 breast finals, earning eighth with a 2:47.77 finish. Stephen Richards swam to a sixth-place finish in the men’s final with a 2:20.98.

Thornbrue took fourth place in the women’s 100 fly finals, clocking a 1:02.21. In the men’s event, Rainer Ng was the top finisher for BYU, posting a 55.92 for eighth.

In the final event of the evening, Kelly Hatanaka took eighth place in the women’s 200 IM with a 2:24.00 finish.

The meet will conclude Saturday, with BYU participating only in the preliminaries beginning at 9:15 a.m. CST. Cougar fans can follow the championships on the live results page, and complete results will be posted to the men’s and women’s schedule pages following the meet.