OCALA, Fla. — BYU men’s and women’s swimming opened competition at the 2024 CSCAA National Invitational Championship at Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training on Thursday.
Men’s Recap
Carson Hamblin posted the highlight of the day for the Cougars with his personal-best 21.90 in the men’s 50 fly preliminary. The true freshman from Mesa, Arizona clipped 0.15 seconds off his previous best to take 14th and draw closer to Jordan Tiffany’s school record of 21.68. The Sunshine State has been good to Hamblin in 2024 as his previous best of 22.05 came at the FIU Sprint Invite on Jan. 3. Hamblin finished the day tied for 19th with a 50 fly final time of 22.10.
Darwin Anderson joined Hamblin as one of two BYU men to reach the finals on Thursday night. Anderson began the day swimming 4:31.07 to finish 19th in the 500 free preliminary before finishing 18th in the final at 4:32.26.
Hamblin and Anderson combined with Jack Burke and Max Cannon to take 18th in the 200 free relay at 1:22.49.
Women’s Recap
Mackenzie Lung jumped from a 28.65 and 20th-place finish in the women’s 50 breast preliminary to a tie for 12th at 28.43 in the final. Lung has now set women’s 50 breast BYU records in back-to-back CSCAA NICs. A season ago, Lung snapped Kassy Bispo’s school record of 29.09 (2011) with a time of 29.05.
Halli Williams and Lily Flint each advanced to the 50 free final where Williams improved 0.03 seconds for a 10th-place finish at 23.04. Flint went 23.33 to take 19th.
With Williams at anchor, Flint, Julia Bartell and Victoria Schreiber combined to clock 1:32.65 and finish ninth in the 200 free relay. Williams swam the final 50 free in 22.60 to give BYU the top-10 spot ahead of squads from Grand Canyon and Florida Gulf Coast.
The Cougars will continue competition in Ocala on Friday with events resuming at 9:30 a.m. EDT.