LA MIRADA, Calif. – Several Cougars recorded career-best relay splits during the first meet of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships at the La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center Wednesday night.
“We had some really great splits to start off our competition here,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “Besides that, it wasn’t our best night, but we are looking forward to tomorrow.”
A team of Brynn Sproul, Mariah Lindsay, Tiare Coker and Gwen Gustafson started out the night placing fifth in the women’s 200-yard medley relay with an overall time of 1:42.03. Lindsay, Coker and Gustafson all posted personal-best relay splits for their strokes. Lindsay earned her fastest 50-yard breaststroke time of 28.86, while Coker and Gustafson swam their best 50-yard butterfly and freestyle times at 24.64 and 22.71, respectively.
The men also took fifth in their 200-yard medley relay event, posting a total time of 1:27.57. Kunmi Ogunfeibo gave the team an early lead with a career-high backstroke split time of 22.50. Levi Jensen followed with his fastest 50-yard breaststroke time at 24.73 and Javier Matta came after swimming his fastest 50-yard butterfly with a time of 21.44. Payton Sorenson anchored the relay team and posted an impressive 50-yard freestyle time of 18.90.
In the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay, a team of Coker, Ellie Thornbrue Brinton, Kali Brown and Makayla Cazier finished eighth with a time of 7:30.78. Coker led off the team recording her fastest 200-yard freestyle split time at 1:50.42. Cazier, anchoring the team, posted her fastest 200-yard freestyle split as well with a time of 1:50.88.
The MPSF swimming championships continue tomorrow with prelims at 9:00 a.m. PST, and finals following at 4:30 PST. Diving championships begin tomorrow with the women’s 1-meter and men’s 3-meter events at 10:00 a.m. PST at Marguerite Aquatic Center.