MPSF Championship Results-Day 2
Swimming
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – BYU finished strong on the second day of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships Thursday night at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, Calif.
“I am really proud of the performances from both teams today," BYU head coach John Brooks said. “Ellie Thornbrue and Lillian Moore had great performances for the women’s team and Jake Taylor and Payton Sorenson both broke school records in men’s events. Both teams were able to battle to get some needed points today.”
Taylor and Sorenson both broke school records, with Taylor winning the 200 individual medley and Sorenson taking the 50 free. Among a handful of highlights were Thornbrue, Moore, Alexandria Sorensen, Stephen Richards, Preston Jenkins, Connor Stirling, Sorenson and Taylor.
The preliminaries on Thursday morning featured qualifying events for the 500-yard freestyle, 200 IM and 50 free finals. BYU returned four swimmers to the 500 free championship finals, three to the 200 IM and two to the 50 free.
Thornbrue raced to a second-place finish in the women’s 500 free with a 4:51.81. Luis Ventura was the top performer in the men’s 500 free, posting a 4:30.92 for seventh.
Moore was the top finisher in the women’s 200 IM racing to a 2:03.48 for tenth place. In the men’s event, BYU took first, second and fourth, with Taylor earning first in 1:43.83, Jenkins taking second in 1:46.76 and Richards posting a 1:47.96 for fourth. Taylor’s time set a new school record.
Alexandria Sorensen was the top finisher for the Cougars in the women’s 50 free, earning fifth place with a 23.15 finish. Payton Sorenson won the men’s event and broke a BYU record, sprinting to a 19.57 for first.
In the final event of the day, a team comprised of Sorenson, Stirling, Jenkins and Taylor won the men’s 200 free relay with a 1:18.55 finish.
Diving
PASADENA, Calif. – Kevin Dreesen and Ali Tippetts-Kottcamp led the BYU divers in their first day of action at the MPSF Diving Championships Thursday at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena, Calif.
“I am very happy with how the men did today,” BYU head diving coach Tyce Routson said. “They had dominating performances. This is Kevin Dreesen’s first time as a conference champion in the 1-meter event and was also Matt Denkers’ first time placing third at conference. For the women, it was a good battle against a really strong Hawaii team of divers, and Ali Tippetts-Kottcamp did a great job competing.”
In the women’s 1-meter, Tippetts-Kottcamp was the top performer for BYU, qualifying in the preliminaries with a 263.20 and then diving a 258.05 in the finals for fifth place overall. Dreesen took first in the men’s 1-meter final with a 388.75, with Denkers posting a 331.85 for third.
The MPSF Swim and Dive Championships will continue Friday, with swimming preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. PST, followed by event finals at 6 p.m. PST. Diving will begin at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center at 11 a.m. PST. Fans can follow the meet through the live stream or live results page, with live dive results also available on divemeets.com. Complete results will be posted on the website at the conclusion of the day’s events.