PROVO, Utah –Select groups from BYU’s swim and dive team head to Las Vegas to participate in the UNLV Invite, while the rest of the Cougars dive team travels to Austin, Texas, for the University of Texas- Austin Diving Invitational this week, Nov. 16-18.
"We have about 30 swimmers going to the UNLV Invite and a couple of divers," head coach John Brooks said. "Since we will be close to sea level, we are expecting our team to swim well. It is going to be a great race with prelims and finals. Everyone is well rested and should swim fast. We are hoping for season- and personal-best times."
BYU swimmers last competed at the Pacific Invite and have had a three-week break. Many swimmers traveling to the UNLV Invite currently hold Mountain Pacific Sports Federation top-10 times in multiple events including Tiare Coker, Casey Cunningham, Kelly Hatanaka, Mariah Lindsay, Jarren Brinton and Cameron Lindsay. The BYU swim team will take on eight other schools including UNLV, UCSB, Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield and Pacific.
The UNLV Invite will take place in the Jim Reitz Pool with three sessions each day. The first swim session starts at 9:30 a.m. PST, the middle dive session, held only on Thursday and Friday, begins at 12:30 p.m. PST and the final swim session starts at 5:00 p.m. PST.
Members of the BYU dive team last competed in October at the Intermountain Shootout where three of the men’s divers earned 1A zone-cuts. Nathan Gonzales still currently holds both of the top scores in the MPSF for the one-meter and three-meter. The Cougars this week will take on Texas, Miami and TCU at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
“I am looking forward to the performances of the divers as they compete this week at the UNLV and Texas Invites," BYU diving head coach Tyce Routson said. "The diving team has really focused on the fundamentals and mental game. I expect the format at these invites to allow many of our divers to reach finals and get the experience they need to qualify for the NCAA championships. They are a tight, supportive and playful team that I love coaching and can roll with any kind of adversity we might face this season."
The UT Diving Invite begins Thursday and goes through Saturday starting each day at 11:00 a.m. CST. Thursday will be the women’s 1-meter and the men’s 3-meter events. Friday's competition will consist of the men’s 1-meter and women’s 3-meter. The Invite concludes on Saturday with the women’s and men’s platform finals. The finals for each event will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network. Specific start and end times can be found on the UT Diving Invitational schedule.