Cougars Fall to Utah in Final Meet

Results

PROVO, Utah – The BYU swim and dive team recorded 15 first-place wins in a dual meet against Utah on Saturday at the Richards Building Pool. 

"It was an amazing high-energy meet with high energy coming from both sides,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “It came down to the last relay for both teams and the women lost by four points. It was super close and we could have found those four points anywhere. The men won but got disqualified in the last relay which obviously hurt. I am super proud of this team and they did an amazing job."

Despite the 15 victories, the men and women dropped their meets to the Utes 160-138 and 152-148, respectively. 

After two days of competition, several divers received new qualifying zone cut scores. Mickey Strauss and Eric Muir posted qualifying scores in the men’s 3-meter at 338.20 and 326.95, respectively. Kennedy Cribbs and Morgan Mellow-Dopp also received their cuts in the 3-meter with Cribbs scoring 298.75 and Mellow-Dopp with 283.10. In the 1-meter, Kimble Mahler received a cut of 303.95. 

The Cougars kicked off the meet dominating in the 200-yard medley relays. A team of Brynn Sproul, Lily Plaudis, Charlotte Fie’eiki and Mariah Lindsay finished first with a time of 1:41.88, while a squad of Jake Walters, Josue Dominguez, Javier Matta and Connor Stirling took the win at 1:29.69. 

The women continued to impress as Tiare Coker, Sproul, Plaudis, and Gustafson had wins in their individual events. Coker received the first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, touching at 1:51.36, while Sproul took first in the 100-yard back at 55.48. Plaudis earned first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:02.66 time and Gustafson continued the winning streak with a 23.00 win in the 50-yard freestyle. 

The men kept the pool alive as Dominguez snatched the win in the 100-yard breaststroke at 54.87 and Matta led in the 200-yard butterfly with a 1:50.78. Jared Shaw, Stirling and Roger Woods took over the scoreboard in the 50-yard freestyle, earning the top-three finishes with times of 19.95, 20.36 and 20.69, respectively. 

Dominguez and Jensen added more top finishes to the competition in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, taking first and second with times of 2:01.99 and 2:04.77, respectively. Charlotte Fie’eiki represented the women in the 100-yard butterfly, taking the win at 55.78.

Several other teammates earned second-place finishes in their events, including Stirling in the 100-yard freestyle, Sproul in the 200-yard backstroke, Ethan Kramer in the 200-yard backstroke and Katie McBratney in the 200-yard breaststroke. 

Going into the last stretch of the men's 400-yard freestyle relay with the Cougars trailing, Stirling was able to pick up the pace and touch first, however the team was disqualified due to an early start. 

The dive team will next compete in the Air Force Invitational for its final competition of the season on Feb. 6-8. The meet will be held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the USAFA Cadet Natatorium.