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Ari Davis
| Posted: 18 Nov 2017 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
Swim team finished strong on final day of UNLV Invite
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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.
