Men in Second, Women Seventh After Day One

LONG BEACH -- The 17th-ranked BYU men's swimming team stormed to a second-place showing while the women's team finished in seventh-place after day one of the three-day Speedo Cup, in Long Beach, Calif.

After day one, the BYU men's team has a score of 305.5, trailing No. 6 USC by 2.5 points, but ahead of third-place Hawaii by 11 points. The women's team has 151 points, but trail No. 8 USC, who leads with 323 points.

Leading the way for the men was senior All-American Arunas Savickas, who scored a first-place finish in the 500 freestyle event for the second year in a row with a time of 4:21.39, beating his season-best time and just missing the NCAA qualifying time of 4:21.03. Sophomore Gary Tan finished third in the 200 IM, recording a season-best time of 1:50.21. Also swimming well for the Cougars was Mike Mullen and Jeff Mason, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 50 free. Mullen's time of 20.78 is a season-best as he finished just three-tenths of a second behind the winner. Mason finished just behind Mullen with a time of 20.83. The 400 medley and the 200 free relay teams both finished second to score big points for the Cougars.

The women ended the first day of competition in seventh-place, thanks in large part to their relay teams. Both the 200 free and the 400 medley relay teams finished in fifth-place while sophomore Heidi Lietz finished sixth in the 50 free. Teammate Ashlee Rumfallow swam a season-best time in the 200 IM (2:08.22), finishing in 14th-place.

The annual Speedo Cup competition continues through Saturday.