Final Day at the Anteater Shootout

LONG BEACH -- BYU and other top swim and dive teams in the country went for round two on the second day of the Anteater Shootout hosted by UC Irvine, the women bringing home five out of six wins and the men coming out on top of Air Force.

“I thought we swam pretty well today,” BYU head coach Tim Powers said. “Our freshmen and guys coming back from missions did a good job, they’re learning what it takes to swim Division I competition.”

The women were on top of all the teams except Stanford while the men were defeated by UNLV and Hawaii.

All-American diver, Tawni Jones flipped her way to a first place title in the 1-meter competition with a point total of 270.75. Jones has yet to lose on the 1-meter board this season. She also placed second on the 3-meter with a score of 252.30 behind Hawaii’s Rachel Bartlow.

It was neck-and-neck for the women’s 400 free relay to finish off the two-day competition. BYU led the entire race, coming down to the last swimmer, where Stanford (3:23.77) out touched the Cougars (3:25.88). “Our relay team has a good shot at going to nationals,” said Powers.

Natasha Menezes, who won the 200, 500 and 1650 free in Friday’s competition placed second in the 200 free (1:50.65) behind Kate Dwelley of Stanford. Menezes also finished fourth in the 500 free (4:54.31). “Her 500 free time was very good for this time of the year,” Powers said.

Aleesha Miller and Kirsty Ferrell went 3-4 in the 50 free behind two Stanford swimmers while Rachel Grant finished third in the 200 fly (2:01.75), fourth in the 200 IM (2:03.94), a personal best.

Leilani Roberts finished fourth in the 100 free (52.37), while Stanford swept the first three places. Freshman Candice Smith finished second in the 200 back with a time of 2:00.97, only .02-seconds behind Stanford.

For the men, Ron Morris finished second for the Cougars on the 3-meter board with a point total of 290.45, behind Stanford’s Brent Eichenseer. Freshman Sam Hatch finished third in the 1-meter competition with a score of 278.95.

Coming off the Mountain West Conference male Swimmer of the Week, John Kendrick finished third in the 1000 free behind John Mendoza and Kier Maitland of UNLV with a time of 9:33.06. Kendrick also finished third in the 500 free with a time of 4:37.86, with freshman teammate Stott Bushnell right behind him in fourth place with a time of 4:38.35. “Stott did really well in the 500 today, he is a nice addition to our team,” Powers said.

Jacoby Jacobsen finished fourth in the 200 IM with a time of 1:54.99 and second in the 200 back (1:51.86), as Vytenis Slenys finished third in the 200 breast with a time of 2:07.33.

The swimmers and divers will take a two-week break and then the swimmers will travel back to Long Beach for the Nike Cup while the divers will head to Tucson, Ariz. for the Wildcat Invitational Nov. 20-22.