2019-20 Season Review

PROVO, Utah – The BYU swim and dive team completed its 2019-20 season with 32 Cougars named All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and two athletes qualifying for the NCAA Championships. 

“It’s been a great season for both teams,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “It’s been great to see the athletes on the rise and build towards being one of the best teams we’ve had. Obviously it would be great to finish the season at the NCAAs, but we can only hope for the best and get ready for next year.”

Sophomores Kennedy Cribbs and Jared Shaw qualified for the NCAA Championships, Cribbs in the 1- and 3-meter diving events and Shaw in the 50-yard freestyle. However, due to circumstances related to the spread of COVID-19, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the NCAA Board of Governors announced that all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships were canceled, so the athletes were not able to compete. Both were, however, named CSCAA All-Americans by qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

For the second season in a row, all Cougar divers qualified for and competed in the Zone E Championships. Cribbs became the first BYU female diver to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 10 years, doing so in both the 1- and 3-meter events. Morgan Cooper, Ryan Evans, Nathan Gonzales, Kimble Mahler and Mickey Strauss also represented BYU in the 1-meter and platform finals at zones. 

After winning six regular-season meets, the team competed in the MPSF Championships where the men finished second and the women landed in third. On the first day of the championships, the Cougar women broke the school record in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:39.24. The squad consisted of Brynn Sproul, Lily Plaudis, Charlotte Fie’eiki and Gwen Gustafson. Cribbs also shined during MPSFs, breaking the 1-meter program record at 337.05. 

Katie McBratney was tabbed MSF Freshman of the Year after winning both the 200 and 400 individual medley titles at the MPSF meet while also claiming second place in the 200 breaststroke.

In his first season as a Cougar after transferring in halfway through the season, Strauss won all three diving events at the conference championships before finishing 12th in the 1- and 3-meter finals at zones and breaking the program record in the platform event. He was later named MPSF Diver of the Year while Tyce Routson was named MPSF Diving Coach of the Year.

Several Cougars earned MPSF Swimmer of the Week during the season. Sproul secured two honors, one in December and another in January. Teammates Josue Dominguez, Tyler Edlefsen, McBratney and Plaudis were also honored. 

Dominguez qualified for the 2020 Olympics representing the Dominican Republic. Other Cougars qualified for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials include Edlefsen, Gonzales, Levi Jensen, Shaw, Sproul, Connor Stirling and Strauss.