PROVO, Utah – Despite a strong performance, BYU women’s swim and dive dropped its home opener to Boise State 153-111 Saturday at the Richards Building Pool in Provo, Utah.
“Our girls fought every chance they had during the meet,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “We are really proud of our girls. Boise State has a great program, and I think we battled really well and that helped us win a lot of events. Our girls are faster than they were a couple of weeks ago and I’m really proud of them for fighting in every single race.”
In the first event of the day, BYU took third in the 200-yard medley relay, with a team of Lauren Shaw Taylor, Hanna Skaggs, Ellie Thornbrue and Alora Foliaki posting a 1:47.23 finish.
Vanessa Moffatt finished the 1000 freestyle in 10:37.94, good enough to earn second place for BYU.
In the 100 backstroke, Samantha Lingenbrink finished in 58.48, earning second-place in the event.
Anna Dahl won the first race of the day for BYU in the 100 breaststroke, posting a time of 1:06.85. Skaggs earned third-place in the race, finishing in 1:07.07.
BYU placed two swimmers in the 200 butterfly event, with Lillian Moore earning second in 2:07.17 and Moffatt finishing just behind at 2:07.79 to place third.
In the 50 free, Alexandria Sorensen edged out two Boise State swimmers with a time of 24.01, good enough for first-place in the event.
Thornbrue and Brenna Dickson tied for second-place in the 100 free, each finishing the race in 52.41.
Kelly Hatanaka recorded a second-place finish for the Cougars in the 200 back, posting a 2:06.80. Lingenbrink took third in the event, finishing in 2:07.13.
BYU took first and second in the 200 breaststroke, with Skaggs finishing first in 2:22.86 and Dahl following close behind at 2:24.66 for second.
In the 500 free event, Moffatt took second-place for the Cougars, clocking a 5:07.97 finish.
Zerlynn Tiang and Moore took second and third for the Cougars in the 100 fly, finishing with times of 57.01 and 57.22, respectively.
BYU finished first and second in the 400 individual medley, with Hatanaka taking first with a 4:32.94 finish and Thornbrue placing second with a time of 4:34.88.
In the last event of the meet, a team comprised of Katie Smith, Foliaki, Dickson and Sorensen earned second-place in the 200 free relay, posting a finishing time of 1:35.75.
“For our first home meet, the divers performed very well,” BYU head diving coach Tyce Routson said. “It was a good competition against a tougher team and our team performed really well. Our dives are where we want them to be, and we just want to be working on consistency all the way through.”
In the 1-meter dive event, Ali Tippetts-Kottcamp posted a 264.70, good enough for a first-place BYU finish.
Kaela Call took third-place for the Cougars in the 3-meter dive event, earning a score of 257.80.
BYU swim and dive will see its next action on Friday, Nov. 6, at 5 p.m. MST when UNLV comes to Provo to battle the Cougars at the Richards Building Pool.