Cougars fall to Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. – The BYU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams fell to Arizona State University Friday afternoon at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. Preston Jenkins, Jordan Fletcher and Hayden Palmer all recorded individual wins as the men fell 158-138 and the women lost by a score of 201-94.

“It was good to be down here in the sun and compete against a quality team,” head coach John Brooks said. “The ASU girls team is ranked in the top 20 and our girls swam well against them. The guys did well even though some were battling being sick. Jordan (Fletcher) swam well today and Shawn Western swam well in the 1000 yard also. We also want to thank all of our fans that came to the meet. It felt like a home meet with the large number of BYU supporters we had.”

Jenkins won two individual races on the day, sweeping the two backstroke events. He won the 100 back with a time of 50.83 and won the 200 back with a time of 1:50.98.

Fletcher won the 50 free in a time of 20.77 to pace three Cougars in the top four spots. Payton Sorenson finished second with at time of 20.88 and Brent Murray finished fourth with a time of 21.47.

The women also finished with three of the top four times. Alexandria Sorensen finished second with a time of 24.22, Andrea Grant was next with a time of 24.26 and Taryn Toolson Lewis was fourth with a time of 24.33.

The men finished the 200 IM in the same fashion as the 50 free, occupying three of the top four spots. Palmer won the event with a time of 1:53.23 with Andrew Rutherfurd finishing second with a time of 1:55.90 and McKay Palmer finishing fourth with a time of 1:59.77.

Jessica Ampuero finished second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:10.00.

Western finished second in the 1000 free with a time of 9:40.35. Alina Fong finished in third with a time of 10:45.36.

Across the deck in the dive pool, Nicholas Suder placed second in both the 1-m and the 3-m to pace the Cougars. Suder recorded a score of 299.85 in the 1-m and a score of 313.43 in the 3-m. Raleigh Williams Taylor finished third in the 1-m with a score of 256.13 and Dayna Christensen finished third in the 3-m with a score of 276.08.

In the last event of the meet, the men’s team of Jenkins, Sorenson, Garret Beaman and Murray finished first with a time of 1:22.85. The women’s team consisting of Kimberly Welch Doroghian, Lewis, Grant and Sorensen finished second with a time of 1:36.83.

Both the men and the women return to action next week.  The women have two meets on back-to-back nights. They face Oregon State on Friday at 5 p.m. MST at the Richards Building Pool. The men and women then take on the University of Denver on Saturday at 1 p.m. MST at the Richards Building Pool.