Men Swimmers Set for Action Again

PROVO -- The No. 23 BYU men's swim and dive team will have meets on back-to-back days this week as the Cougars take on TCU on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Provo and then travel to Washington to square off with the University of Washington at 12 p.m. on Friday.

"I am looking to really knock off the rust this week," BYU coach Tim Powers said. "Both of our competitors have had meets since our last meet, but things have come together for us and our guys feel confident after the tough Christmas training we had."

The Cougars look to improve upon their 8-1 record against opponents that they beat last season in head-to-head matchups in the Horned Frogs and the Huskies. BYU beat TCU by 80 points and Washington by 50 points during the 2006-07 campaign.

BYU is led by a strong core of seniors in Jorge Azevedo, Travis Price, Zach Anderson, John Ferrell, Neal Hamilton and Jeffery Su. Between these six Cougar seniors every individual race is covered. Azevedo has recorded impressive times in the 100 butterfly (48.77) and 100 backstroke (50.48), while Price has led the charge in the 200 freestyle (1:39.45) and 500 free (4:28.64).

The Horned Frogs come to the Richards Building Pool with a 4-2 record, which includes a Mountain West Conference dual-meet win over Air Force and a narrow loss to UNLV by only two points. TCU is led by senior Jonathan Berrettini, who was awarded the MWC Swimmer of the Week honor on Dec. 21 after his team's participation in the Las Vegas Invitational.

Berrettini is the current all-time TCU record holder in the 100 back. In the Las Vegas Invitational he recorded a time of 48.89 in that event. He also anchors his team's efforts in freestyle sprints as he placed the highest of any Horned Frog in their last meet in the 50 and 100 free with times of 20.69 and 45.32, respectively.

Immediately following the TCU meet, the Cougar men will hop on a bus to the airport on their way to taking on the University of Washington on Friday. The Huskies will look to senior Ivan Perhat to contribute in the freestyle sprints. Perhat most recently placed first in both the 50 free with a time of 20.60 and the 100 free with a time of 45.32 against Arizona State last week.