Cougars Gain Another Duel Victory

PROVO, Utah – In a much-hyped rivalry meet, the BYU swim and dive team came away with the Deseret First Duel Trophy, outscoring Utah 161-139 for the men and 162-138 for the women.

“Every race felt like it was back-and-forth tonight,” BYU head coach Tim Powers said. “We have the utmost respect for Utah and getting that win was definitely a challenge. I’m extremely happy with the efforts of our team tonight. This is a big meet and there’s always a lot on the line, so it feels good to have this win under our belt before we move on to the conference championships.”

This was the last meet for Powers, as he has decided to retire at the conclusion of the 2012 season. This meet also honored the 15 graduating seniors as their last home meet.

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Allie Dodds grabbed the first win of the night in the women’s heat of the 1000 free with a time of 10:26.54, about five seconds ahead of second place.

A very close race in the women’s 200 free resulted in Alia Welsh taking the first place win with her time of 1:51.01 ahead of a Ute swimmer at 1:51.28.

For the men, Stott Bushnell raced hard for the first place win and recorded a time of 1:42.14. At 50.92, Jordan Fletcher grabbed first place in the men’s 100 back.

Londyn Clawson touched in at 1:04.80 for first place in the women’s heat of the 100 breaststroke while teammate Kassandra Bispo came in at 1:06.09 behind her.

Kim Welch owned the women’s 200 fly with her time of 2:04.26, while David Armstrong swam for first in the men’s heat with a time of 1:53.74.

Across the deck, Dayna Christensen finished the 3-meter diving competition with a score of 305.85, putting her in first place for the event. Brandon Watson finished in similar fashion for the 1-meter, with a first place score of 386.40.

At the break, athletes and coaches from various BYU sports showed their support for the swim and dive team by jumping into the pool for a quick relay. It was men from the baseball team who ended up coming in at first place.

At 2:04.46, Candice Smith touched in for first place in the women’s 200 backstroke.

Back on the boards, BYU men accomplished a 1, 2, 3 sweep in the 3-meter competition with Watson in first with 434.50, Kevin Dressen in second with 350.33 and Travis Day in third with 328.43.

Clawson tallied another first-place finish in the women’s heat of the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:20.04. For the men, Andrew Rutherfurd swam for first with his time of 2:07.42.

Rutherfurd and Rafael Alfaro pulled off a 1, 2 sweep in the 200 IM with times of 1:54.35 and 1:55.40, respectively.

At the last event of the meet, the men’s 400 yard relay team came away with an amazing first-place win with Bushnell heading up the first leg, David Armstrong the second, Samuel Bates the third and Garret Beaman pulling the team to the victory as the fourth man.

The BYU divers will be back in the Richards Building pool on Feb. 10th for a meet against the divers of Stanford, while the rest of the team prepares for MPSF championships beginning Feb. 15th through the 18th.