Brinton and Cunningham stand out during first day of UNLV Invite

Brinton and Cunningham stand out during first day of UNLV InviteBrinton and Cunningham stand out during first day of UNLV Invite

UNLV Invite Results

LAS VEGAS – Ellie Thornbrue BrintonCasey Cunningham and Kelly Hatanaka led select teams from the BYU swim and dive team to a strong finish during the first day of the UNLV Invite.

"All things considered, I'm proud of the team and I am pretty pleased with the results of the overall day," BYU head swimming coach John Brooks said. "We had a lot of best times and our return missionaries are starting to look really good. We started off a little rocky in the morning, but everyone came together and swam really well tonight."

The morning swimming session featured qualifying events for the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard IM and the 50-yard free. In the six qualifying events, 29 BYU swimmers recorded season highs.

In the 500-yard freestyle prelims, Casey CunninghamKelly HatanakaDavid Harlan and James Sorensen all advanced. In the two Cougars earned career best times. Cunningham recorded a career best of 4:57.86 and Sorensen also earned a season best at 4:33.86.

Mariah Lindsay, Thornbrue Brinton, Emily To’oKilee RohlfCameron Lindsay and John Morris recorded times to compete in the finals of the 200-yard IM. In the finals, Thornbrue Brinton posted a season best time of 2:04.75. Hatanaka followed with a time of 2:05.71 and Mariah Lindsay at 2:07.26. In the men's 200 IM, Morris also recorded a career best time at 1:53.41.

Kimble Mahler competed during the diving afternoon session earning fourth place on the men's 1-meter with a score of 268.70.

In the first relay event of the day, a team of Mariah Lindsay, Thornbrue Brinton, Hatanaka and Tiare Coker finished the 200-yard freestyle relay with a season high of 1:34.41 to earn fifth place. Later in the evening, the same group raced in the 400-yard medley relay posting a season high of 3:50.94.

The swimming competition continues Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. PST at Jim Reitz Pool with live result available on the swim and dive team schedule page.