OKLAHOMA -- The BYU men's and women's swimming and diving teams both held onto their leads on the third day of competition with the men scoring 521 points and the women scoring 497.
The men came into the day's competition with just a 25 point lead over the University of Utah but extended its lead over Colorado State to 89 points and could have led by more if the Cougars 400 medley relay team hadn't been disqualified, while the women lead UNLV by 74.5 points.
BYU lost 32 points as a result of an early jump on the relay, but that was the lone blemish on an otherwise productive day.
"We had a very good evening," coach Tim Powers said. "If we continue to swim like this, we should win the meet pretty easily, but we're not going to count our chickens before they're hatched."
The Cougars "good evening" included a win by Randy Belliston in the 400 IM. Belliston was the returning champion in that event and broke the MWC record he set at last year's championships swimming in 3:52.24, which is also a new BYU record.
BYU also earned a victory in the 200 free with Mark Chay and Zach Anderson finishing 1, 2 and David Mason finishing fourth. Chay followed up his victory in the 200 free with a third place finish in the 100 back.
Diogo Yabe and Kenneth Carpenter finished third and fourth respectively in the 100 fly with Yabe finishing in 48.46. In the 100 breast, BYU's highest finishers were Nicholas Tobler (5th) and Kurt Mullen (6th).
On the women's side, Brittany Davis continued her solid performance from the previous evening. Davis placed second in the 100 back with a time of 55.59, but broke the BYU record in the event set by K.C. Cline in 1988. Davis also anchored the 400 medley relay that placed first in a time of 3:45.86.
Besides Davis, BYU placed three other swimmers in the top-six of the 100 back. Another Cougar swimmer who is continuing to make waves at the MWC championships is Nikki Xanthos who won the 100 breaststroke.
"Nikki has been on fire since Christmas training," coach Crump said. "And tonight was no different. She came from behind in both the prelims and the finals to win both races."
Crump was also pleased with the performance of Lyndi Juvan, who placed sixth in the 100 fly.
"I was tickled for her," Crump said. "She swam great today. Her performance in the 100 fly and the 400 medley relay really helped us."
BYU did well in the women's 3-meter springboard, placing three in the top-eight with Aubrey Low finishing fifth.
The Cougars will finish up the competition tomorrow with the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breaststroke, 200 fly, 1650 free and the platform diving competition. For complete results from the 2004 MWC championships visit www.themwc.com.
Team Scores
Women
1. BYU 497
2. CSU 422.50
3. UNLV 399
4. Utah 353
5. New Mexico 245
6. Wyoming 201
7. Air Force 197
8. SDSU 157.50
Men
1. BYU 521
2. UNLV 430
3. Air Force 401
4. Utah 390
5. Wyoming 306