AUSTIN, Texas – Senior Shawn Western recorded a time of 15:50.42 in the men’s 1650-yard freestyle, dropping more than 10 seconds off his seed time during the final day of the Texas Invite.
“We had a great finish to the meet today,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “The highlights were Shawn Western’s mile, the relays, along with all those who swam in the finals. This has been a challenging year and this meet had some ups and downs. I am proud of those who continue to have positive attitudes.”
Senior Payton Sorenson tied for ninth place in the men’s 100-yard freestyle prelims with Olympian Townley Haas with a time of 43.45. Sorenson competed in the B Finals earning a 50-spilt of 19.58.
A team of Sorenson, Preston Jenkins, Sherif Aboumandour and Kunmi Ogunfeibo earned 12th in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:57.52. Sorenson led off posting a split of 42.88, followed by Jenkins with a split of 43.52. Aboumandour recorded a split time of 46.31 in the third leg, while Ogunfeibo anchored with a split time of 44.81.
In the prelims of the men’s 200-yard backstroke, Jenkins placed 15th with a time of 1:44.42. Junior Ogunfeibo also qualified with a time of 1:47.07. In the finals, Jenkins recorded a time of 1:49.78 for eighth place in the B Finals, while Ogunfeibo posted a time of 1:46.35 for sixth place in the D Finals.
For the women’s 200-yard back, Haley Bertoldo dropped eight seconds off her seed for the Invite qualifying for finals with a time of 2:02.01. In the finals, she took off two more seconds, taking fifth place in the C Finals with a time of 2:00.98. Emma Richards Lythgoe also qualified for finals with a 2:02.01 time in prelims and a 2:00.98 time for sixth place in the D Finals.
Freshman Brad Prolo qualified for finals earning 15th place in the prelims of the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:59.92. In finals, Prolo posted a time of 2:00.07 for seventh place in the D Finals.
In the women’s 200-yard breaststroke, freshman Alexa Walters and Taylor Ballard both qualified for finals with times of 2:23.49 and 2:25.82, respectively. In the D Finals, Ballard posted a time of 2:20.92 for fourth place while Walters recorded a time of 2:22.88 for eighth.
Three Cougars posted a time qualifying for the 200-yard butterfly. Senior Vanessa Moffatt swam a time of 2:03.10 in the women’s prelims while freshman Brad Prolo and Nathan Rogers recorded times of 1:49.06 and 1:52.10, respectively. In finals, Moffatt posted a time of 2:03.48 for seventh place in the D Finals and Rogers earned fifth place in the D Finals with a time of 1:52.37.
This concludes the Cougars fall season with the winter season set to begin on Jan. 13 at Grand Canyon University. The swim and dive team will also travel to Puerto Rico over the Christmas Break for training camp.