BYU Women's and No. 23 Men's Swim Host Two Meets
PROVO -- For the last time this season, the BYU men's and women's swimming teams will take to the water at home this weekend as they face Air Force on Friday, Jan. 24, at 6:00 p.m., and then Wyoming on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 12:00 p.m.
After dropping their last meet to Colorado State, the women (2-6, 1-4) are hoping to pick up some wins at home before the conference championships. The Cougars faced the first half of the season without four of their top swimmers, but with the return of all four this month the team is looking like the preseason favorite everyone thought they would be.
"We're starting to feel better," said women's head coach Stan Crump. "The kids that were injured are feeling better."
On the men's side, the No. 23 Cougars (4-0, 2-0) are looking to increase their conference best record to 3-0 as they are coming off of a convincing 127-78 victory over No. 24 Washington two weeks ago.
For the men and women it will be the first time since Nov. 22 that the teams have competed in a dual meet competition.
The Last Competition
The BYU women's swim team was defeat by Colorado State 137-106. The veteran swimmers had a strong showing for the Cougars as seniors Cortnee Adams, Amanda Grant, and juniors Tamber Covington and Nichole Burrows each placed in the top three in every event they competed in. Adams, Burrows, and Covington helped BYU to a second place finish in the 400 Medley Relay. Adams went on to place second in the 200 free and win the 100 free. Burrows took second place in the 200 back and was a part of the second place 400 free relay team. In only her second competition since returning from knee surgery, Covington won the 200 breast and placed third in the 200 IM. Grant won the 500 free, and placed second in both the 200 IM and the 200 breaststroke.
The Opposition
The Falcons' are having a strong season as the men are 10-1 and 1-0 in conference and the women are 13-5. However, the women are struggling in conference competition with four loses and no wins on the season.
The Cowboys' men's team is tied for second with Utah in the MWC at 1-1. The men are coming off of a victory over UNLV, where they won 11 of 13 events. For the women they are just ahead of the Cougars at 1-2 in conference swim, and are coming off of a loss to UNLV. In the meet freshman Shayna Burns set a new pool record in the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.17.
Neither women's team has ever defeated the Cougar women in head-to-head competition.
Coach's Quotes
"We are not too far out of from tapering for some of the kids. I am excited about this weekend, it will be good to swim against some competitive people at home. We need the team's confidence up a bit, we just need to get over the hump."
"Our teams match up pretty good (BYU and AFA) but they are strong in areas where we are not like distance."
"Wyoming swam UNLV really tough last week. They show up to win every meet."
