Three school records fall as BYU dominates day three of MPSF Championships

MPSF Day 3 Results

MPSF Day 1 Recap

MPSF Day 2 Recap

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – Three school records fell on the third day of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships as BYU dominated at East Los Angeles College Friday night.

“We’re trying to build off today and finish strong tomorrow,” BYU head swim coach John Brooks said. “It was such an amazing day for both our guys and girls and we just want to finish this thing strong.”

Junior captain Jake Taylor set a new school record in the men’s 100-yard backstroke, finishing first with a time of 45.53. The time is a new MPSF Championship meet record and also the second fastest 100 back time in the country this season.

Taylor also led off the men’s 400-yard medley relay team that finished in 3:12.16. Along with Taylor, Levi Jensen, Rainer Ng and McKay King finished in first place and set a new school record.

The women’s 400 medley relay team earned a solid second-place finish. Haley Bertoldo, Anna Dahl, Lillian Moore and Ciera Marsh Keller combined to finish in 3:41.39, less than half a second off the pace of UC Davis’ winning relay team.

Jensen finished fourth in the men’s 100-yard breast, but was still fast enough to set a new school record in the event. Dahl finished third in the women’s 100 breast, recording a time of 1:02.42.

BYU pulled off the sweep in the men’s 400-yard individual medley as senior captain Hayden Palmer finished first (3:47.52), followed by Rafael Alfaro (3:49.70) and Stephen Richards (3:50.51).

Bertoldo won the women’s 100 back with a time of 53.96 and finished second in the women’s 100-yard butterfly touching the wall in 53.87.

The men’s team is solidly in first place with a score of 567.5, ahead of second-place Hawaii who is at 504. The women are up to 295.5 points, good enough for fifth place and just 4.5 points behind Pacific.

Tomorrow marks the final day of the Championships. The divers are done and the swimmers will compete in the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard freestyle relay.

All events will be streamed live online via webcast. There is also a live results page as well as the free "Meet Mobile" app. Results will be posted each evening of the championships on the men's and women's schedule pages.

Diving

PASADENA, Calif. – True freshman Nathan Gonzales earned a third-place score of 270.00 in the men’s platform, followed by Jordan Tuckfield who scored a 246.05 to finish fourth. For the women, Megan Johnson Harris scored a 199.00 to finish fourth and Ali Tippetts scored a 198.80 to finish fifth on the final event of the Championships for the divers.

“I was very happy that we did some things today that we hadn’t done in the previous two days,” BYU head diving coach Keith Russell said. “I felt like each diver did a good job and lived up to the expectations that we had and I feel really good about that.”

The dive team will stay in southern California to cheer on the Cougar swimmers tomorrow on the final day of the MPSF Championships.