PROVO, Utah — BYU men’s swim and dive faced new challenges and obtained historic success as it embarked on its maiden voyage as a member of the Big 12 Conference during the 2023-24 season.
The Cougars went 1-2 in dual meets with a spirited 181-113 victory over rival Utah on Feb. 9-10. BYU also won both the FIU Sprint Invite on Jan. 3 and its Jan. 19-20 tri-meet with Air Force and Colorado Mesa. The Cougars’ inaugural appearance at the Big 12 Championships resulted in a third-place finish at the league’s 2024 event held in Morgantown, West Virginia Feb. 27-March 2. BYU’s 1,402 points came in ahead of Cincinnati and West Virginia while 28 behind runner-up TCU.
BYU’s season culminated with eight entries at the 2024 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana. This marked the program’s most entries at nationals since 1998 and an all-time high for the program with solely swimming entries. The Cougars scored seven points in Indianapolis to finish 35th; their highest team finish since 2016.
Individual accomplishments abounded for BYU swimmers and divers as well with 12 broken school records and 37 new program top-10 times and marks.
No Cougar swimmers racked up more honors and achievements in 2023-24 than did Jordan Tiffany and Brad Prolo.
Tiffany’s season included three individual NCAA Championships’ entries, a 100 fly Big 12 Championship, three All-Big 12 First Team honors, five broken school records, five conference weekly awards and 16 event wins. In just his first season in Provo, the Tennessee transfer took possession of the BYU men’s swimming 50 back, 50 fly, 100 fly, 100 back and 200 individual medley records.
Tiffany, was particularly dominant in the 100 fly with a personal-best and Big 12 title-winning 44.51 on Feb. 28. The freshman from Pleasant Grove, Utah added league first team honors with a runner-up spot in the 100 free (42.49) and third-place finish in the 200 IM (1:41.88). Tiffany took 13th and 14th in the 100 fly and 200 IM, respectively, at nationals, along with 35th in the 100 free. The freshman sensation’s 100 fly and 200 IM results were both good for Honorable Mention All-America citations, the Cougars’ first since Jake Taylor in 2016.
Prolo compiled two NCAA Championships entries, a Big 12 title, three all-conference honors, two broken school records, a conference weekly honor and 11 event wins. With nationals’ entries in both 100 breast and 200 fly, Prolo became the first in school history to qualify in back-to-back seasons in the 200 fly.
The San Clemente, California native broke his own 200 fly school record for the 10th time of his Cougar career with a 1:41.15 finish to win the Big 12 championship. Prolo added an All-Big 12 First Team placement with a school record finish in the 200 breast and a second team spot in the 200 IM.
Each of BYU’s four sprint relay teams broke their respective school records in 2023-24, with an unprecedented three Cougar relay squads at nationals. Tiffany, Prolo, Tanner Edwards and Luigi Riva took 20th and 21st in the 200 and 400 medley relay, respectively in Indianapolis. Tiffany, Diego Camacho Salgado, Joshua Reed and Riva comprised the Cougars’ 400 free relay team and finished 24th.
Riva, Camacho Salgado, Edwards and Reed each compiled a flurry of individual notables for themselves.
A junior from Milan, Italy, Riva earned All-Big 12 Second Team status in the 100 free, six event wins and the program’s third-fastest finish all-time in the 50 free at 19.53.
Camacho Salgado finished the Big 12 Championships with second team spots in the 50 free and 100 back. In just his first season back from full-time missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Edwards jumped to No. 2 all-time at BYU in the 100 back and recorded all-conference results in both 100 fly and 100 back.
Reed worked his way to sixth and seventh all-time at BYU in the 200 and 100 free, respectively. The freshman from Newcastle, Australia was one of just three first-year swimmers to reach the Big 12 200 free championship final. There, Reed finished in 1:36.51 for sixth and second team placement.
Payton Plumb, Tony Puertas, Emerson Edwards, Jacob Ballard and Tama Tuitama rounded out the Cougars’ final six all-conference swimming honors.
Mickey Strauss and Chase Hindmarsh led BYU diving with All-Big 12 performances.
Strauss garnered all-conference status on the 1 and 3-meter. The senior from Provo won six events on the season and concluded the season with a top-10 spot in the NCAA Zone E 3-meter final. Strauss’s best performance of the season came with a school-record 407.20 on the 1-meter in Morgantown.
Hindmarsh racked up 371.75 points for a fourth-place finish on platform at Big 12’s while reaching Zone E finals on both 1-meter and platform.