Women Defeat Nevada on Final Event
PROVO, Utah – BYU swim and dive concluded the meet against Denver, while the women defeated Nevada, 123-114, on Saturday at the Richards Building Pool.
“We’re grateful for the competition and grateful they came here to compete,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “We had a lot of swimmers that stepped up and swam some different events that helped us win this meet today.”
In the dual meet against Denver, both the men and women fell with the final scores of 167-132, and 159.5-139.5, respectively.
Going into the final event ahead by four, the Cougars needed a first-place finish to secure the win over the Wolfpack. A team of Gustafson, Kali Brown, Tiare Coker and Mariah Lindsay concluded the meet by snatching the win in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:33.42, keeping the Cougars from a one-point loss.
After two days of competition, several divers earned zone cut scores. Freshman Mickey Strauss set a pool record and posted his first zone cut with a score of 374.85 in the 1-meter event. Kennedy Cribbs, Kaela Harries and Morgan Mellow-Dopp also received qualifying zone-cut scores at 312.95, 296.90 and 299.15, respectively.
In the 400-yard individual medley, Katie McBratney took the win and posted a new pool record. Brynn Sproul also shined in the pool, earning first place in both the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:41.33 and the 100-yard backstroke at 56.33. Gustafson added another win to the board in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing at 23.17.
Charlotte Fie’eiki recorded two second-place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke with times of 56.27 and 55.29, respectively. Jessica LeSueur also received a top-three time in the 500-yard freestyle, touching at 5:11.42.
The Cougars return to the Richards Building Pool to face in-state rival Utah in two weeks. The divers will compete on Friday, Jan. 31, at 5 p.m. MT while the rest of the swim team will face the Utes on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 11 a.m. MT.