Women Resume MWC Competition

PROVO -- The BYU women’s swim and dive team (13-1) will resume conference competition for the first time since November, Friday, as they travel to Ft. Collins to take on the Colorado State Rams (4-1).

“We’re hoping we’re not too rusty,” said BYU head coach Tim Powers. “We expect it to be a tough meet, but we also expect good things to come of it.”

The women are coming off a win at the Nike Cup out of 21 teams. They defeated such teams as San Jose State, UNLV, UC San Diego and Loyola Marymount.

At that meet, sophomore Rachel Grant broke the MWC record in the 400 IM with a time of 4:18.37, winning the event. Grant also won the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.65.

Other winners from the Nike Cup include Natasha Menezes in both the 1650 free and 500 free with respective times of 16:53.44 and 4:50.95. Candice Smith also placed first at the Nike Cup with a time of 1:59.14 in the 200 back.

The 200 and 400 free relay teams also finished first overall at the Nike Cup. For the 200 free relay was Sara Jayne Christiansen, Kirsty Ferrell, Leilani Roberts and Aleesha Miller touching the wall with a time of 1:33.62. For the 400 free relay was Ferrell, N. Menezes, Christiansen and Miller coming in at 3:24.39.

The women look forward to more conference competition in the new year and are excited to start with the Rams.

“Colorado State is a very intimate setting with the fans right on the deck,” said Powers. “They always have good attendance which makes for an exciting competition.”

The Cougars will be back at home in the Richards Building Pool on Jan. 23 to take on the Air Force Falcons at 5 p.m.