UNLV Invite Results

LAS VEGAS – In the final day of the three-day UNLV Invite on Saturday, BYU’s swim team finished strong, placing top-5 in three events.

“We finished strong today with great mile swims and improvements from the morning prelims,” BYU swim head coach John Brooks said. “I am proud of everyone for digging deep tonight, especially in the relays.”

Brother-sister BYU duo, Cameron and Mariah Lindsay continued to showcase their talent by both placing fifth with time of 51.07 and 58.19, respectively. In the finals, Mariah earned third place with a time of 57.29.

BYU also had a strong presence in the mile swims finals. James Sorensenplaced fourth in the men’s 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:56.89. While Casey Cunningham placed sixth in the women’s 1650 freestyle at a time of 17:18.26. Cunningham later went on to take sixth in the women’s 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:05.58.

The Invite concluded with the men’s and women’s 400-yard freestyle relays where the women’s team continued to showcase their talent. A team of Lindsay, Ellie Thornbrue Brinton, Natalie Bennion and Tiare Coker placed fifth with a time of 3:27.78 and the men’s team finished in 13th with a time of 3:03.54.

Throughout the Invite the Cougars earned many career and season bests. On the first day, both Cunningham and Sorensen posted career best times of 4:57.86 and 2:05.71, respectfully, on the 500-yard freestyle. Later that day, John Morris also earned a career best in the men’s 200-yard IM. Nearly all of the BYU swimmers that participated in the Invite, earned season bests, and the Cougars qualified swimmers into all of the final events, except for one.

Many BYU swimmers also recorded top-10 times in many of the events, including Thornbrue Brinton who earned the second fastest time in the women’s 200-yard IM and Kelly Hatanaka who placed eighth with a time of 2:05.71. On the second day, Hatanaka also placed second in the women’s 400-yard IM prelims with a time of 4:26.68. Later that night, Thornbrue Brinton, swam on a team including Coker, Bennion and Cunningham taking second place in the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:29.23.

Next for the Cougars swim team, select groups with travel to Austin, Texas to participate in the Texas Invite at the Lee and Joe Jamail Swimming Center from Nov. 29- Dec. 2. Live stats will be available on the swim and dive schedule page.

Day 1 Recap

Day 2 Recap

PROVO, Utah –Select groups from BYU’s swim and dive team head to Las Vegas to participate in the UNLV Invite, while the rest of the Cougars dive team travels to Austin, Texas, for the University of Texas- Austin Diving Invitational this week, Nov. 16-18.

"We have about 30 swimmers going to the UNLV Invite and a couple of divers," head coach John Brooks said. "Since we will be close to sea level, we are expecting our team to swim well. It is going to be a great race with prelims and finals. Everyone is well rested and should swim fast. We are hoping for season- and personal-best times."

BYU swimmers last competed at the Pacific Invite and have had a three-week break. Many swimmers traveling to the UNLV Invite currently hold Mountain Pacific Sports Federation top-10 times in multiple events including  Tiare Coker, Casey Cunningham, Kelly Hatanaka, Mariah Lindsay, Jarren Brinton and Cameron Lindsay. The BYU swim team will take on eight other schools including UNLV, UCSB, Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield and Pacific.

The UNLV Invite will take place in the Jim Reitz Pool with three sessions each day. The first swim session starts at 9:30 a.m. PST, the middle dive session, held only on Thursday and Friday, begins at 12:30 p.m. PST and the final swim session starts at 5:00 p.m. PST.  

Members of the BYU dive team last competed in October at the Intermountain Shootout where three of the men’s divers earned 1A zone-cuts. Nathan Gonzales still currently holds both of the top scores in the MPSF for the one-meter and three-meter. The Cougars this week will take on Texas, Miami and TCU at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

“I am looking forward to the performances of the divers as they compete this week at the UNLV and Texas Invites," BYU diving head coach Tyce Routson said. "The diving team has really focused on the fundamentals and mental game. I expect the format at these invites to allow many of our divers to reach finals and get the experience they need to qualify for the NCAA championships. They are a tight, supportive and playful team that I love coaching and can roll with any kind of adversity we might face this season." 

The UT Diving Invite begins Thursday and goes through Saturday starting each day at 11:00 a.m. CST. Thursday will be the women’s 1-meter and the men’s 3-meter events. Friday's competition will consist of the men’s 1-meter and women’s 3-meter. The Invite concludes on Saturday with the women’s and men’s platform finals. The finals for each event will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network. Specific start and end times can be found on the UT Diving Invitational schedule.

UT Diving Invitational Results

AUSTIN, Texas – The UT Diving Invitational ended with sophomore Morgan Mellow taking second place in the platform event.

On the final day of the Invite, the Cougars competed in the platform event for the first time this season. In five dives, Mellow took second place with a score of 217.50. Adia London and Elizabeth Holmes followed in third and fourth place with scores of 193.05 and 191.10, respectively. In the men’s platform, Matt Denkers posted BYU’s highest score on the event at 288.50 and Nathan Gonzalez followed in sixth place with 276.25.

During the three-day diving event, the Cougars qualified four men and two women to proceed to the 1-meter finals and three men and two women on the 3-meter finals. Holmes earned her first BYU 1A zone cut on the 1-meter, while Gonzales and Morgan Cooper both earned a zone cut on the 3-meter. Both Gonzales and Cooper now have zone cuts on the 1-meter and the 3-meter and will compete at the NCAA Zone E Championship in March.

Two BYU divers also placed on the podium during the Invite. Gonzales took third in the men’s 3-meter with a score of 366.50 on the second day, while Morgan Mellow placed second in the women’s platform at 217.50 on the final day.

The majority of the Cougars dive team earned either career or season bests this weekend. Gonzales’ third place on the 1-meter (366.50) was also a career best. He also earned a season best on the 3-meter with a score of 366.50. Cooper and Denkers also posted season highs on the 3-meter scoring 320.55 and 290.25, respectively. For the women, Holmes 1-meter score (276.15) was a career high. Mellow at 253.45 and London with 222.55 also posted season highs on the 1-meter. Holmes also recorded a season best of 261.90 on the 3-meter, as well as Mellow at 233.71 and Morgan Paul with 265.30.

The BYU dive team with next travel to Salt Lake City to compete in the University of Utah Diving Invitational from Dec. 1-2. The Cougars will face Utah, Air Force and USC at Ute Natatorium.

Day 1 Recap

Day 2 Recap

PROVO, Utah –Select groups from BYU’s swim and dive team head to Las Vegas to participate in the UNLV Invite, while the rest of the Cougars dive team travels to Austin, Texas, for the University of Texas- Austin Diving Invitational this week, Nov. 16-18.

"We have about 30 swimmers going to the UNLV Invite and a couple of divers," head coach John Brooks said. "Since we will be close to sea level, we are expecting our team to swim well. It is going to be a great race with prelims and finals. Everyone is well rested and should swim fast. We are hoping for season- and personal-best times."

BYU swimmers last competed at the Pacific Invite and have had a three-week break. Many swimmers traveling to the UNLV Invite currently hold Mountain Pacific Sports Federation top-10 times in multiple events including  Tiare Coker, Casey Cunningham, Kelly Hatanaka, Mariah Lindsay, Jarren Brinton and Cameron Lindsay. The BYU swim team will take on eight other schools including UNLV, UCSB, Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield and Pacific.

The UNLV Invite will take place in the Jim Reitz Pool with three sessions each day. The first swim session starts at 9:30 a.m. PST, the middle dive session, held only on Thursday and Friday, begins at 12:30 p.m. PST and the final swim session starts at 5:00 p.m. PST.  

Members of the BYU dive team last competed in October at the Intermountain Shootout where three of the men’s divers earned 1A zone-cuts. Nathan Gonzales still currently holds both of the top scores in the MPSF for the one-meter and three-meter. The Cougars this week will take on Texas, Miami and TCU at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

“I am looking forward to the performances of the divers as they compete this week at the UNLV and Texas Invites," BYU diving head coach Tyce Routson said. "The diving team has really focused on the fundamentals and mental game. I expect the format at these invites to allow many of our divers to reach finals and get the experience they need to qualify for the NCAA championships. They are a tight, supportive and playful team that I love coaching and can roll with any kind of adversity we might face this season." 

The UT Diving Invite begins Thursday and goes through Saturday starting each day at 11:00 a.m. CST. Thursday will be the women’s 1-meter and the men’s 3-meter events. Friday's competition will consist of the men’s 1-meter and women’s 3-meter. The Invite concludes on Saturday with the women’s and men’s platform finals. The finals for each event will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network. Specific start and end times can be found on the UT Diving Invitational schedule.

Pacific Invite Results

STOCKTON, Calif. – Preston Jenkins, Kelly Hatanaka and Cameron Lindsay placed top-three in two events each, helping the BYU swim team earn 13 top-three times at the Pacific Invite on Nov. 16-18.

"Overall, we swam well and most important we improved from last meet," BYU head coach John Brooks said. "I still want the team to get up and continue to improve, get-up and race."

Overall, the BYU men’s team took third place with a score of 540, behind the University of Denver at 980 and University of the Pacific with 726. No. 4 Stanford University took fourth at 510, but only competed on the first day of the meet, while Fresno Pacific University placed fifth with 378. The BYU women’s team also took third place with a score of 702.50, behind Pacific at 941.50 and Fresno Pacific with 843, but ahead of San Jose State University took fourth with a score of 610.

BYU’s only first place win of the Invite came on the first day when senior Vanessa Moffatt competed in the women’s 200-yard butterfly. Moffatt placed first with a time of 2:05.78, two seconds faster than Fresno Pacific’s Daria Belova.

A team of Jenkins, Levi Jensen, Sherif Aboumandour and Payton Sorenson started the Cougars out strong on the first day of competition in the 200-yard medley relay placing third with a time of 1:31:80. The following day, a team of Kumni Ogunfeibo, Brad Prolo, Aboumandour and Sorenson also took third in the men’s 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:24.34.

Jenkins went on to finish second in the men’s 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:38.63, only a tenth of a second behind Grant Shoults of Stanford. Sorenson came away with second place in the men’s 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.31. On the second day, Jenkins also placed second in the 200-yard backstroke at 1:48.68. He also earned a first place time in the 200-yard IM at 1:52.37, however his score did not count towards the team score because he was an exhibition swimmer. 

Prolo, was slotted in the first heat of the men’s 100-yard breaststroke, but earned a time better than most of fastest two heats taking third place with a time of 57.40 besting his original time of 58.05.

In the women’s 400-yard IM, Hatanaka took third place with a time of 4:28.11. Hatanaka continued her success on the second day of the Invite, taking second in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:08.22.

BYU's brother and sister duo, Cameron Lindsay and Mariah Lindsay both took third place in the men’s and women’s 200-yard breaststroke with times of 2:06.71 and 2:23.17, respectively. Cameron then went on to place second in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:54.55.

Adding to the top-three times, BYU's Madeline Zarchin took third in the 100-butterfly with a time of 57.97, teammate  Katia Quezada placed third in the 1650-yard freestyle and Cougar Matt Abernathy earned third in the men’s 100-yard butterfly.

Next up, the Cougars swim and dive teams will travel to different Invites on the weekend of Nov. 16-18. Select groups from the swim team will compete in the UNLV Invite at Buchanan Natatorium in Las Vegas, while the dive team will travel to University Texas-Austin to compete in the UT Diving Invite at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. The UT Diving Invite begins at 5:00 p.m. CST on Thursday, Nov. 16, continues at 4:00 p.m. CST on Friday, Nov. 17 and concludes as an all-day event on Saturday, Nov. 18. The Nov. 16-17 competitions will be broadcast live on the Longhorn Network.

PROVO, Utah ­­– After three weeks off, the Cougar swim team heads to Stockton, California, to compete in the Pacific Invite on Friday, Oct. 27 and Saturday, Oct. 28 at Kjeldsen Pool.

The men’s and women’s teams will both compete against the University of the Pacific, also a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, San Jose State University, University of Denver and Fresno Pacific University. Additionally, the men will go up against NCAA Division I CSCAA Coaches Poll No. 4 Stanford.

Many members of the BYU swim and dive team currently hold MPSF top times and scores. Preston Jenkins currently holds the top times for the men's 200 freestyle short course yards with a time of 1:38.82 and the men's 200 IM SCY at 1:52.09. Kelly Hatanaka holds the top time for the women's 400 IM SCY with a time of 4:27.87. Diver Nathan Gonzales holds the top scores in the MPSF in the men's 3-meter and 1-meter at 303.55 and 324.05 respectively, while Elizabeth Holmes hold the top score in the women's 1-meter at 255.95.

While the BYU dive team will not be competing in the Pacific Invite, it will also be in California, training at UC Berkeley.

The Invite starts at 7:00 p.m. PST on Friday, Oct. 27 and continues on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 10:00 a.m. PST with a live stream available on the men's and women's swim and dive schedule page. 

Results Day 2

Intermountain Shootout Complete Results

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. –– Men’s diver Nathan Gonzales and women’s diver Elizabeth Holmes received first place awards for BYU at the final day of the Intermountain Shootout held at Colorado Mesa University.

“Overall, we had a great meet,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “This gives the coaches and athletes something to work from and improve on going into the next meet. The team’s highlights were having top times in some of the diving and swimming events.”

On the final day, Preston Jenkins won two more events. He placed first in the men’s 200-yard IM with a time of 1:53.29 and the men’s 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:51:91. Those two wins gave him a total of four first-place wins in the two-day competition. Levi Jensen got his first win of the 2017 season in the men’s 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 26.27, besting his seed time of 27.16.

The Cougars also dominated in diving on the second day of competition earning first place in both the women’s and men’s competition. Gonzales again took first place, this time in the 3-meter with a score of 302.55, followed by Matt Denkers in second with a 298.05. Freshman Holmes earned her first BYU win on the 1-meter with a score of 255.95.

Between the two meets, the men’s team defeated Colorado Mesa University, 261.50 to 125.50, but it lost to the Air Force Academy, 228.00 to 165.00.

The women’s team defeated the Air Force Academy, 216.00 to 177.00, and Colorado Mesa University, 281.00 to 112.00, but lost to Colorado State University, 232.50 to 159.50.

The Cougars have three weeks off before traveling to the Pacific Invite in Stockton, California. The meet begins on Oct. 27, at 7:00 p.m. PDT, and continues on Oct. 28, at 10:30 a.m., at Kjeldsen Pool.

Day 1 Recap

PROVO, Utah – Colorado Mesa University hosts the BYU swim and dive teams, along with three other schools, in the eighth annual Intermountain Shootout on Oct. 6-7 at El Pomar Natatorium in Grand Junction.

This will be BYU’s first meet of the 2017-18 season that counts towards regular season standings. The men’s team will go up against Air Force and Colorado Mesa, in addition to those two teams, the women’s team will compete against Colorado State. 

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the BYU swim team will wear pink swim caps at all of their October meets. 

This meet kicks off at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6 and 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7. It will be scored in a dual meet format and live results can be found here. In addition, live streaming can be found here.

BYU vs. Utah Relay Results

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah ­– The University of Utah topped the BYU swim and dive team winning 13 out of 15 relay races on Friday night.

“It is always a fun meet, but we have a lot of work to do,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “It was the first time that we had to transition from 25-meters to 25-yards, but the team responded to the transition very well.”

After the Utes won the first relay of the day, the Cougars fought back and won the second event in the men’s 150-yard fly relay with a time of 1:09.00.

In the only event of the meet that counted towards the regular season standing, BYU took a close second to the Utes. Senior Payton Sorenson led off the Cougars in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay with the fastest split time of the meet at 45.50.  Senior Preston Jenkins anchored the team, swimming the fastest of any in the fourth leg with a time of 45.57. The Cougars completed the event with a time of 3:04.77. 

The BYU dive team not only competed in its regular diving events but also as swimmers. The BYU co-ed dive team took first place in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:53.97.  The Cougar dive team will travel up to the Ute Natatorium again in December for the Utah Diving Invitational.

The Cougars have a week break before traveling to Grand Junction, Colorado, for the Mesa State Invite at the Colorado Mesa University. The invite starts Friday, Oct. 6, at 5 p.m. MDT and continues on Saturday Oct. 7, at 9 a.m. MDT.

PROVO, Utah – After completing its Blue and White meet this past weekend, the BYU swim and dive teams will travel to Salt Lake City on Friday for a relay meet against the University of Utah at 5 p.m. in the Ute Natatorium.

“This relay meet is one of the more exciting meets to come to and watch for spectators,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “Relays are always fun and a lot of athletes get to participate. There is no score, so there is no pressure on either team. It is a way to showcase each team’s talents and abilities.”

The meet will include freestyle relays, as well as co-ed relays and many others. Even the divers will compete and swim in a relay. While the 4x100 meter freestyle relay will be the only event that counts towards national rankings, the meet will be the first time in the 2017-2018 season that the Cougars will compete against another school.

BYU will face Utah twice more this season at the Ute Natatorium. On Dec. 1 the dive team will compete at the Utah Diving Invitiational and then on Jan. 27, 2018, both the swim and dive teams will compete against the Utes.

PROVO, Utah – In the season-opening meet for the BYU swim and dive team, the Blue team edged out the White team 127-109 after a week-long competition.

“It was a lot of fun for the first-ever short course meters and outdoor meet,” BYU coach John Brooks said. “I was very impressed with the team spirit and energy all week. The highlight for me was that new additions to the team stepped in and are making an impact right away.”

The meet was the final event in a week-long competition between the two teams. Earlier in the week, they went head-to-head in events including a water obstacle course, ab workout and a spelling contest held by the weightlifting coach.  

During the Saturday meet, held at the Riverside Country Club, many of the new members of the team were showcased.

Up next the Cougars travel to Salt Lake City for a relay meet against the University of Utah on Friday, Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. MDT at the Ute Natatorium.

PROVO, Utah – To start the season, the BYU swim and dive team will hold its annual Blue and White swim meet at the Riverside Country Club on Saturday at 9 a.m. MDT.

“We are looking forward to a long week of fun Blue and White activities,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “This will be the first Blue and White meet held outdoors and in short course meters. It should be fun to watch and see where the team is after two weeks of training.”

While this meet with not count towards the regular 2017-18 season, it is an opportunity for the community to get a first glance at the team. Later in the season, the Cougars will take on the University of Utah, UNLV, University of Texas Austin, Grand Canyon University and others.

The team currently has many new faces and returning missionaries to the men’s team and 15 new freshmen on the women’s team.