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MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – The BYU men’s swimming and diving team won their second-straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship with 830.5 points and the women finished fourth with 471.5.
“The guys pulled off a nice win and our girls improved each day," BYU swim head coach John Brooks said. "Our men did what they needed to do and it feels really good to win the conference again.”
On the men’s side, UC Santa Barbara finished in second with 774.5 points and Hawaii in third with 721. The Hawaii women won the championship with 747 points, followed by UC Davis with 632 and UC Santa Barbara with 585.5.
"I'm so proud of our women," Brooks said. "They did such a good job battling back after having a rough first day, and for them to almost finish in the top-three after that is great.
BYU head swim coach John Brooks and head dive coach Keith Russell were each named Coach of the Meet and junior captain Jake Taylor won the men’s Swimmer of the Meet award.
Taylor won the men’s 200 back, setting a new MPSF Championship meet record with a time of 1:41.15. Haley Bertoldo won the women’s 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:56.83 while Ciera Marsh Keller finished third in 1:59.92.
Junior Stephen Richards finished second in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke in 1:58.22.
Sophomore Riley Buer finished in fourth-place in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:16.73. In the men’s 200 breast Rafael Alfaro picked up a fifth-place finish, touching the wall in 2:00.48.
The Cougars picked up fifth-place times in both the men’s and women’s 200-yard butterfly with senior captain Hayden Palmer finishing in 1:48.49 and freshman Lillian Moore in 2:02.81.
Freshman Luis Ventura swam the men’s 1,650-yard freestyle fast enough to finish fifth with a time of 15:33.37, and McKay King earned a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in 44.97.
Taylor, Palmer, Alfaro and King combined to finish the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay in 2:57.17, fast enough for a third-place finish.
The divers will head to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to compete in the Zone E diving meet Mar. 9-11. Taylor is the only swimmer to qualify so far for the NCAA championships Mar. 26-28 in Iowa City, Iowa, with Palmer a possibility to make it as well.
PROVO, Utah – It’s postseason time for the BYU swim and dive teams as they prepare for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships this Wednesday through Saturday.
“Our guys are the defending champions so obviously we want to do that again,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “We won on the women’s side two years ago and this year we want to fight for it again. The women’s side is pretty open so I think we have a good shot. This is what we train for all season and we are really excited and ready to go.”
The swimmers will be off to East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, California, while the divers will be in Pasadena, California, competing at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center.
The BYU men come into the meet as the defending champions and are looking for back-to-back titles. Junior captain Jake Taylor set three meet records at last year’s championships, recording times of 46.67 in the 100-yard backstroke, 1:43.42 in the 200-yard backstroke and 1:44.96 in the 200-yard individual medley.
Taylor currently holds the fastest times in the conference in the 200-yard freestyle, 100 back, 200 back and 200 IM. Senior captain Hayden Palmer leads the conference with his time in the 400-yard individual medley. Senior diver Nicholas Suder is looking for his third conference championship in the 1-meter dive and his second in the 3-meter.
The women are looking to bounce back from a third-place finish last season and are led by sophomore Haley Bertoldo, who holds the fastest times in conference in the 100 and 200 back.
The women will be up against Pacific, Denver, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, San Diego and Cal Poly, while the men race UC Santa Barbara, Pacific, Cal Poly and Hawaii.
The championships will be streamed live online via webcast. There is also a live results page as well as the free "Meet Mobile" app. Results will be posted each evening of the championships on the men's and women's schedule pages.
Swimming Schedule
Wednesday, February 18 | |
6:00 p.m. | 200-yard medley relay (W&M) Final |
800-yard freestyle relay (W&M) Final |
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Thursday, February 19 | |
10:00 a.m. | 500â€yard freestyle (W&M) Prelims |
200-yard IM (W&M) Prelims | |
50-yard freestyle (W&M) Prelims |
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200-yard freestyle (W&M) Prelims | |
6:00 p.m. | 500-yard freestyle (W&M) Final |
200-yard IM (W&M) Final | |
50-yard freestyle (W&M) Final | |
200-yard freestyle relay (W&M) Final | |
Friday, February 20 | |
10:00 a.m. | 400-yard IM (W&M) Prelims |
100-yard butterfly (W&M) Prelims | |
200-yard freestyle (W&M) Prelims | |
100-yard breaststroke (W&M) Prelims | |
100-yard backstroke (W&M) Prelims | |
6:00 p.m. | 400-yard IM (W&M) Final |
100-yard butterfly (W&M) Final | |
200-yard freestyle (W&M) Final | |
100-yard breaststroke (W&M) Final | |
100-yard backstroke (W&M) Final | |
400-yard medley relay (W&M) Final | |
Saturday, February 21 | |
10:00 a.m. | 200-yard backstroke (W&M) Prelims |
100-yard freestyle (W&M) Prelims | |
200-yard breaststroke (W&M) Prelims | |
200-yard butterfly (W&M) Prelims | |
6:30 p.m. | 1650-yard freestyle (W&M) Final |
200-yard backstroke (W&M) Final | |
100-yard freestyle (W&M) Final | |
200-yard breaststroke (W&M) Final | |
200-yard butterfly (W&M) Final | |
400-yard freestyle relay (W&M) Final |
Diving Schedule
Wednesday, February 18 | |
11:00 a.m. | 1-Meter Diving (W&M) Prelims |
12:45 p.m. | Men's 1-meter Finals |
1:30 p.m. | Women's 1-Meter Finals |
Thursday, February 19 | |
11:00 a.m. | 3-Meter Diving (W&M) Prelims |
12:45 p.m. | Women's 3-Meter Finals |
1:30 p.m. | Men's 3-Meter Finals |
Friday, February 20 | |
12:00 p.m. | Platform (W&M) Prelims and Finals |