SALT LAKE CITY – Freshmen Mariah Lindsay and Brigham Harrison shined despite a loss to Utah in the Deseret First Duel Saturday afternoon at the Ute Natatorium in BYU's final dual meet of the season.
“We are thankful Utah was able to host this meet for us because it was supposed to be at our facility,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “This has been a rocky year for us. We have faced a challenge in everything we have done. With that said, I could not be prouder of our team. Today I saw a team that cheered for each other, fought for everything they could and did the very best with what they had. Mariah Lindsay stepped up and had an amazing meet as well as Brigham Harrison.”
Lindsay competed in three individual events today placing top-three in each event. In the women’s 200-yard breaststroke, Lindsay took second with a new season high of 2:21.45. She also placed second in the 200-yard IM at 2:09.52 and third in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.82.
Harrison placed third in the men’s 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.21 behind senior Preston Jenkins. Jenkins, who was out-touched by Utah, took second place with a time of 1:40.54. Harrison took fourth in the men’s 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.79 behind senior Kent Fellows who took third with a time of 46.99. Harrison also anchored the men’s second place 400-yard freestyle relay team with a split of 47.03.
Junior Haley Bertoldo earned BYU’s only individual first place of the meet in the women’s 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.48. Sophomore Katie Smith, who just returned from her LDS mission in December, took second in the women’s 50-yard freestyle with a new season high of 24.33.
A team of Tiare Coker, Casey Cunningham, Vanessa Moffatt and Smith led BYU to its first-place win in the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay. With Utah’s A relay team disqualified, BYU took first with a time of 3:33.74.
The dive team, started the dual meet Friday night competing in the women’s 1-meter and the men’s 3-meter.
“I think the divers performed strong,” BYU head dive coach Tyce Routson said. “I think we could have been a little bit sharper to make it a little bit more competitive. There were some slight misses, but that means we are getting closer to hitting our peak at the right time.”
On Friday, freshman Elizabeth Holmes took second in the women’s 1-meter with a score of 264.08 and freshman Kaylie Jackson earned a new season high of 232.58 taking fourth place. In the men’s 3-meter, senior Matt Denkers took third with a score of 300.68.
In the men’s 1-meter on Saturday, Denkers posted a new season high score of 320.03 taking second place. Kimble Mahler also recorded a new season high score of 274.95. In the women’s 3-meter, Morgan Paul took second with a score of 263.55, followed by Morgan Mellow with a score of 251.40 for third place. Jackson, Adia London and Kaitlyn Abernethy all earned new season high scores on the 3-meter.
The dive team will travel to its final competition of the season on Feb. 2-3 for the Air Force Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The swim team has concluded the regular season and will now prepare for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on Feb. 12-14 in Los Angeles.