BYU Defeats Utah in Final MWC Showdown

SALT LAKE -- Coming down to the last event, the BYU men’s (6-4, 4-3) and women’s (17-1, 8-0) swim and dive teams slid by Utah in the Deseret First Duel Friday. The men won with a score of 154-144 while the women won 160-140.

“It was a team effort,” said BYU head coach Tim Powers. “Everyone came through with their swims and it all paid off.”

The women won 11 out of 16 events on the night while the men came out with nine out of the 16 events.

The women started off the meet winning the 200 medley relay with the team of Candice Smith, Sara Jayne Christiansen, Rachel Grant and Aleesha Miller with a time of 1:45.03. The men followed suit winning the 200 medley relay as well with Jacoby Jacobsen, David Mason, Dougie Broadbent and Gregor Greiner touching the wall with a time of 1:33.31.

Next the Menezes sisters took first and third in the 1000 free. Natasha Menezes won the event with a time of 10:25.90 while Michelle Menezes placed third with a time of 10:38.57.

Sophomore John Kendrick placed second in the 1000 free with a time of 9:42.03 and senior Leilani Roberts placed third in the 200 free with a time of 1:51.97. True freshman, Stott Bushnell, finished third in the 200 free for the men with a time of 1:42.38.

True freshman Candice Smith won the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.02 as Jacobsen won the event on the men’s side with a time of 51.77—two seconds ahead of second place.

Christiansen finished third in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:06.41 while Vytenis Slenys placed third as well on the men’s side of the event with a time of 59.28

Do-all sophomore Rachel Grant finished almost four seconds ahead of second place in the 200 fly with a time of 2:02.10.

With a neck-and-neck race in the 50 free, Aleesha Miller out-touched Natalie Edge of Utah, posting a time of 23.82. Greiner won the 50 free as well for the Cougars, chalking up an impressive 21.92 in the event.

The women’s 3-meter diving competition was taken by Anna Braszkiewicz of Utah with a score of 296.02 while All-American diver Tawni Jones placed second in the event with a score of 279.83.

The men’s 1-meter competition was taken by the Cougars in the first, second, fourth and fifth places with sophomore Ron Morris coming out on top with a score of 324.75. Sam Hatch followed him with 284.92 points.

Senior Leilani Roberts won the 100 free for the Cougars with a time of 51.63 and Greiner won the event for the men with a time of 46.88.

Smith won the 200 backstroke, her second win of the night, with a time of 2:04.37. Jacobsen followed suit once again winning the 200 back with a time of 1:53.79.

The female distance dominator, N. Menezes finished first in the 500 free with a time of 4:58.77 with M. Menezes in third with a time of 5:11.36.

Grant placed second in the 100 fly with a time of 56.47 while Dougie Broadbent finished second in the same event with a time of 51.96.

The Cougars were on top for round two of the diving competition with Ava Jackman taking the 1-meter competition with a score of 278.70 and Ron Morris taking the 3-meter competiion with a score of 246.43. The men’s dive team would sweep the first four places on the 3-meter board.

Grant also won the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.24, out-touching Hannah Caron of Utah (2:05.90).

Winning a key event for the Cougars was Vytenis Slenys in the 200 IM with a time of 1:55.68. “If we can’t win the 200 IM, we can’t win the meet; and Vytenis really came through for us tonight,” said Powers.

Finishing off the meet with another win was the 400 free relay team of Roberts, Kirsty Ferrell, N. Menezes and Aleesha Miller. Miller came from behind on the last leg to win the event with a time of 3:24.16.

With only a one-point lead, the Cougar men stepped up to the blocks looking for a win in the last relay, and found it within the endurance of Greiner, Kendrick, Bushnell and Mason touching the wall a second ahead of Utah with a time of 3:05.07; in turn, winning the meet.

The swimmers will not compete until the Mountain West Conference Championships to be held in Oklahoma City Feb. 25-28, while the divers will host Stanford Feb. 13 at 11 a.m. in the Richards Building pool. Your attendance is encouraged.