Second-Place Finishes for Both Men and Women at Nike Cup

LONG BEACH -- After the conclusion of the Nike Cup on Saturday night, both the BYU men's and women's teams posted second-place finishes. The Cougar men finished with 1002 points which was second only to No. 3 Stanford, while the women swimmers tallied 887.5 points to finish second to No. 14 UCLA.

"The guys looked very good tonight," BYU men's coach Tim Powers said. "Our team has been swimming well on very short rest, which I am very pleased with."

In the longest race at the Nike Cup, the 1650 freestyle, the Cougars saw their most dominating performance. BYU senior Travis Price took first place with a time of 15:36.91, seven seconds faster than anyone else in the race. But he was not alone among the event's top finishers as fellow teammates Zach Anderson, Sammy Bates and Neal Hamilton touched the wall in fourth, sixth and seventh places, respectively.

The BYU women also did very well in the 1650 free. Cougar Natasha Menezes finished in third place as she swam the race in 17:07.02 while her sister Michelle placed in seventh with a time of 17:15.13. Celliegh McHenry also had a respectable finish as she came in 11th with a time of 17:26.76.

"The team finished the meet very well," BYU women's coach Stan Crump said. "Although we did not win as a team like we did last year, the competition has been much higher this year, and I think that has helped our team's performance overall."

Cougar senior Jamie Bloom also helped boost her team's score with a third-place finish in the 200 breast as she set a new season-best time with 2:18.49. Another individual event that saw a notable performance by the Cougars was the 200 backstroke. The brother tandem of John and Jeff Ferrell finished in seventh and eighth, with times of 1:50.82 and 1:53.77, respectively.

Freshman Rachel Grant had another great swim as she placed in second in the 200 butterfly, improving on her previous season-best mark with a time of 2:00.74. Jeffrey Su also set a new season-best mark in the 200 fly as he touched the wall in sixth place with a time of 1:50.12.

Both the Cougar men and women swimmers will next be in action on Nov. 29-Dec. 1 as they travel to take part in the US National Meet in Atlanta.

Click here to view results from Friday.

Final Team Scores  
Women
Team                                                              Points
1. UCLA                                                           1498.5
2. Brigham Young                                                   887.5
3. Pacific                                                         795
4. Rice                                                            727
5. San Jose State                                                  558
6. UC Irvine                                                       523
7. UC San Diego                                                    439
8. New Mexico                                                      379.5
9. Pepperdine                                                      310
10. Loyola Marymount                                               249
11. Air Force                                                      223.5
12. San Diego                                                      223
13. Cal State Northridge                                           195
14. UC Santa Cruz                                                  184
15. Alaska                                                         162.5
16. Cal Lutheran                                                   118
17. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps                                          86
18. Fresno Pacific                                                  68
19. Grand Canyon                                                    56
20. Soka                                                            22
20. La Verne                                                        22
22. Occidental                                                      14
 
Men
Team                                                              Points
1. Stanford                                                       1965
2. Brigham Young                                                  1002
3. Air Force                                                       847
4. Pacific                                                         678
5. UC Davis                                                        517
6. UC Irvine                                                       449
7. Cal Baptist                                                     377
8. UC San Diego                                                    360
9. Cal State Northridge                                            288
10. UC Santa Cruz                                                  254
11. Fresno Pacific                                                 153
12. Cal Lutheran                                                   152
13. Grand Canyon                                                   146
14. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps                                          96
15. Occidental                                                      24
16. La Verne                                                        22
17. Soka                                                             7