Cougars defeat Pioneers on Senior Night

PROVO, Utah - The  BYU men's and women's swimming team defeated the University of Denver Saturday afternoon at the Richards Building Pool by winning the final event of the night. The men won 151-149 and the women won 156-144.

Following Hayden Palmer's victory in the 200 IM, all the men's team had to do was win the last event of the meet, the 400 free relay. The race started out close with Preston Jenkins swimming side-by-side the Pioneer swimmer. Stott Bushnell gave the Cougars a small lead and Garret Beaman pushed the lead to a full body length. Brent Murray swam the final leg and finished the race with a time of 3:01.84 to give BYU a victory on the men's side. 

The women's relay team needed to finish first and second to win the meet. The team of Kimberly Welch Doroghian, Angela Bennion, Alexandria Sorensen and Andrea Grant took first with a time of 3:29.25. The second place race came down to a difference of one second as Taryn Toolson Lewis finished just ahead of the DU swimmer with a time of 3:33.22 to seal the win. She was joined on the team by Natalie Bennion, Hailey Campbell and Sarah Bushnell.

"It was a great meet today and a good way to send off our seniors," head coach John Brooks said. "It all came down to the last event which made the meet very exciting. DU is a great team and ranked in the top 25 for guys so that was a big win for us and our girls all performed well today."

Both the men and the women kicked off the meet taking first place in the 200 medley relay. The women's team of Campbell, Kassandra Bispo, Doroghian and Lewis won with a time of 1:44.52. The men's team of Jenkins, Brady Wells, David Armstrong and Payton Sorenson took first with a time of 1:30.72 and the team of Jordan Fletcher, Andrew Rutherfurd, Beaman and Murray took second with a time of 1:31.33.

Alexandra Dodds took second place in the 1000 free with a time of 10:37.74 and McKay Palmer was the top men's finisher with a time of 9:58.69.

Stott Bushnell won the 200 free with a time of 1:42.27 and Samuel Bates finished with a time of 1:43.50. Grant finished second with a time 1:54.87.

In the next event, Jenkins won the 100 back with a time of 49.49 and Fletcher finished third with a time of 50.78. On the women's side, Campbell took second with a time of 57.29 and Ciera Marsh finished in third with a time of 57.97.

Bispo won the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.24 and Londyn Clawson was second with a time of 1:05.51.

Doroghian won the 200 fly with a time of 2:03.85 and the top men's finisher was Armstrong, who finished with a time of 1:54.32.

Just before the dive break, the men and the women won the 50 free. Beaman won with a time of 20.82 followed by Sorenson who was second with a time of 20.99 and Murray was third with a time of 21.07. Sorensen won the race for the women, finishing with a time of 23.94 and Lewis was second with a time of 24.23.

Across the deck in the dive pool, the Cougars swept the boards for both the men and the women. Dayna Christensen won the 1-m with a score of 277.95 and won the 3-m with a score of 340.65. Raleigh Williams Taylor was second in both events, scoring a 274.73 and 285.83 in the 1-m and the 3-m, respectively. Nicholas Suder won the 3-m with a score of 340.65 and won the 1-m with a score of 319.80. David Corless was second in the 3-m with a score of 298.95 and Matt Hopper was second in the 1-m with a score of 308.03.

After the break, Beaman won his second individual event of the night, coming in first in the 100 free with a time of 46.14. Murray finished in third with a time of 46.68. Grant won on the women’s side with a time of 52.45 and Angela Bennion was third with a time of 53.02.

Fletcher and Doroghian both swam to second-place finishes in the 100 fly. Fletcher finished with a time of 49.56 and Doroghian finished with a time of 56.24. Zerlynn Tiang was third with a time of 58.01.

During the last break of the meet, there was a special video played for all the seniors on the team. Also, there was a relay between members of the baseball team and members of the athletic department. Tom Holmoe, BYU Director of Athletics and Associate Director of Athletics, Brian Santiago  were first with a time of 28.21. The baseball team of Adam Law and Brock Whitney were second with a time of 28.96.

The men and women swimmers are done for the season until the conference meet, which will take place Feb. 20-23. The divers return to action next weekend as they travel to take part in the Air Force Invite at the USAFA Cadet Natatorium Jan. 25-26. The start time will be announced next week.