FT. COLLINS -- The BYU women’s swim team defeated the Colorado State Rams (4-2) 149.50-93.50 Friday to extend their perfect conference record to 5-0 and 14-1 overall this season.
BYU won 11 out of the 13 events swam on Friday, giving them a 149.50-93.50 win over the Rams.
The 400 medley relay team of Candice Smith, Sara Jayne Christiansen, Rachel Grant and Aleesha Miller started out the meet winning the event with a time of 3:48.44.
The next win of the night came from Natasha Menezes in the 1000 free with a time of 10:29.10. Menezes would go on to win the 500 free as well, touching the wall at 5:05.88.
Senior Leilani Roberts led her Cougars in the 200 free, placing first with a time of 1:52.42. Roberts also won the 100 free with teammate Kirsty Ferrell in a close second, swimming respective times of 52.05 and 52.57.
The Cougar’s fastest female swimmer, Aleesha Miller, finished first in the 50 free with a time of 23.77.
Mountain West Conference 400 IM record holder, Rachel Grant, placed first in the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.92. She also won the 100 fly with a time of 2:04.16.
Both of the diving events were taken by Ava Jackman with a score of 288.30 on the 3-meter board and 280.80 on the 1-meter.
The Rams took first place in the 200 back with Smith (2:03.58) touching only .29 seconds behind Michelle Price (2:03.29) of Colorado State. The Rams swept all three places in the 200 breast.
The Cougars finished off the meet as they started it, winning the 400 free relay with a time of 3:28.49. Miller, Ferrell, Roberts and Menezes swam on the relay to give the Cougars their final win of the competition.
The men will next join the women back at home on Jan. 23 to take on Air Force in their first home dual meet of the season. Competition will being at 5 p.m. MT.
PROVO -- The BYU women’s swim and dive team (13-1) will resume conference competition for the first time since November, Friday, as they travel to Ft. Collins to take on the Colorado State Rams (4-1).
“We’re hoping we’re not too rusty,” said BYU head coach Tim Powers. “We expect it to be a tough meet, but we also expect good things to come of it.”
The women are coming off a win at the Nike Cup out of 21 teams. They defeated such teams as San Jose State, UNLV, UC San Diego and Loyola Marymount.
At that meet, sophomore Rachel Grant broke the MWC record in the 400 IM with a time of 4:18.37, winning the event. Grant also won the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.65.
Other winners from the Nike Cup include Natasha Menezes in both the 1650 free and 500 free with respective times of 16:53.44 and 4:50.95. Candice Smith also placed first at the Nike Cup with a time of 1:59.14 in the 200 back.
The 200 and 400 free relay teams also finished first overall at the Nike Cup. For the 200 free relay was Sara Jayne Christiansen, Kirsty Ferrell, Leilani Roberts and Aleesha Miller touching the wall with a time of 1:33.62. For the 400 free relay was Ferrell, N. Menezes, Christiansen and Miller coming in at 3:24.39.
The women look forward to more conference competition in the new year and are excited to start with the Rams.
“Colorado State is a very intimate setting with the fans right on the deck,” said Powers. “They always have good attendance which makes for an exciting competition.”
The Cougars will be back at home in the Richards Building Pool on Jan. 23 to take on the Air Force Falcons at 5 p.m.