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.