Cougar divers dominate in day one of Air Force Invite

PROVO, Utah — At the conclusion of day one at the Air Force Invite, the BYU men's swim and dive teams sat atop the leaderboard with 659 points, while the women placed third with a total of 437.50, narrowly trailing Colorado State and Air Force. 

The men and women dive teams were the story of the day, as each team nearly swept the top three spots of both the 1m and 3m events. In the men's 1m, Mickey Strauss (395.85), Chase Hindmarsh (308.55) and Nathan Marshall (285.25) placed in the top three, while Alexia Jackson went on to take the top spot in the women's 1m with a final score of 285.35.

In the 3m, Strauss (393.65) and Hindmarsh (307.75) placed first and second again to help the Cougars finish in first for the day. For the women 3m, Jackson placed first again with a final score of 309.35, while Hailey Johnson also contributed to the Cougar point total with a 271.20. 

The swimmers excelled on day one as well, with multiple athletes winning their respective events. The men started strong in  the 400-yard medley relay as a team of Diego Camacho, Josue Dominguez, Brad Prolo and Brigham Harrison swam a 319.36 to place first in the event.

Individually, Harrison also went on to win the 50-yard freestyle event, swimming a 20.23 to pick up where he left off last meet. He would also go on to place second in the 100-yard freestyle with a 45.14. Camacho also found individual success in the 200-yard backstroke, posting a second place 1:50.81. The 200-yard butterfly featured a win by Prolo as well, posting a 1:53.97. 

In the 500-yard freestyle, men swimmer's Abe Barragan (4:39.96) and Darwin Anderson (4:43.20) gave the Cougars a boost, placing second and third in the event. 

Tama Tuitama excelled in the 200-yard IM event, swimming a 1:52.49 to take the outright win for the Cougars. Andrew Eliason also went on to swim a 1:53.97 in the event. The 200-yard breaststroke featured three BYU swimmers sweeping the top three, as Evan VanderSluis (2:01.40), Emerson Edwards (2:04.05) and William Bonnett (2:08.90) took home the win for BYU. 

For the women, Regan Geldmacher (5:09.61) and Victoria Schreiber (5:10.64) helped get things going for the Cougars in the 500-yard freestyle event, placing second and third. In the 200-yard butterfly, Daniela Flores Bautista swam a 2:10.92 to contribute to the women's point total. Halli Williams also placed third in the 50-yard freestyle, swimming a 23.91. 

A team of Lily Flint, Julia Bartell, Emma Marusakova and Williams went on to place third in the 200-yard freestyle relay event, posting a 1:36.82, the highest finish of the Cougar teams competing. 

Both BYU teams will look to continue their success on day two, as events will begin at 11 a.m. MDT. The meet will conclude with 10 events Saturday morning, including 2 relay events. A live stream of the meet will be available on the Air Force YouTube page again. Event results can also be followed on the BYU Swim and Dive social media pages on Instagram and Twitter. Final results will be posted to the byucougars.com website as soon as they are received.