PROVO, Utah — BYU women’s swim and dive will preview its 2024-25 team in its annual Blue and White Meet on Friday at 5 p.m. MDT at the Richards Building Pool.
The Blue and White Meet is a free admission event.
Read below for all the essential details on BYU men’s swim and dive in 2024-25.
Coaching Staff
Tamber McAllister took over as BYU men’s and women’s swim and dive head coach in May 2024 following the retirement of head coach and longtime assistant Shari Skabelund. McAllister has a combined 16 years’ experience as a BYU assistant coach (2005-18, 2021-24) and previously held Utah Tech’s women’s swimming head coaching position (2018-21).
In 16 years as a BYU assistant, McAllister helped coach nine All-Americans, 49 individual conference title-winners, eight team conference champions and 37 school record-breakers.
Following her hire in May, McAllister brought home three more former Cougar swimmers to serve as assistants on her staff.
Christian Hanselmann swam at BYU (2008-09, 2011-13) before going on to assistant coaching positions at Tennessee and Eastern Michigan. Hanselmann returns to BYU after helming the Southeastern Swim Club and Hamilton Southeastern High School swim program in Fishers, Indiana (2021-24).
Melissa Springer and McAllister were teammates at BYU in 2001-02 and are back together as coaches in 2024-25. Springer cemented herself in the midwestern swimming community as a program-builder at the club, high school and junior high school levels in Michigan and Wisconsin. Most recently, Springer head coached Wausau, Wisconsin’s Woodson Y Northern Swimmers Club (2018-24) and served as Senior Chair of the Wisconsin Swimming Board (2023-24).
While not far removed from her BYU swimming career (2014-18), Emma Lythgoe has jumped up the coaching ranks from head coach at Newbury Park High School (California, 2020-24) and Pleasant Valley Swim Team, to returning to BYU as an assistant.
Another former Cougar swimmer, Hayden Palmer, enters his second season as a full-time assistant on the BYU swim staff. Head diving coach Tyce Routson moves into his 10th season at BYU in 2024-25. Routson has coached BYU divers to 11 individual conference titles and looks to extend that in the Big 12 in the season to come.
Recapping 2023-24
The BYU women finished fifth at the 2024 Big 12 Championships and return seven All-Big 12 performers in 2024-25.
Junior Mackenzie Miller Lung earned All-Big 12 Second Team finishes in the 100 and 200 breast after a regular season in which she broke Richards Building Pool records in both events.
Senior Halli Williams finished with a second team spot in the 50 free and enters the season two-tenths of seconds from breaking the program’s 50 free record. Emma Marusakova moves into her junior campaign after an All-Big 12 second team spot in the 200 back and Big 12 Women’s Co-Swimmer of the Week honor as a sophomore.
The Cougars’ women’s distance swimmers are led by veterans Regan Geldmacher and Victoria Schreiber. The duo earned All-Big 12 in 500 and 1650 free, respectively. Tatum Cooley came on strong at the close of her freshman season with an all-league performance in the 200 free.
Junior diver Alexia Jackson Hansen recorded a school-record breaking 281.75 on platform at the 2024 Air Force Diving Invitational and followed it up with an all-conference showing at Big 12 Championships.
BYU women’s diving is also bolstered by the return of Brooklyn Larson Clouse, Sophia DeBergh and Aubryn Ordyna. Larson Clouse and DeBergh both competed for the Cougars at the 2024 NCAA Zone E Diving Championships.
Newcomers
Six key newcomers join the Cougars this season in Lucy Warnick, Jasmine Anderson, MJ Bezzant, Sarah Eliason, Haylee Tiffany and Kiara Xanthos.
Warnick capped her prep career with a 2024 USA Swimming Olympic Trials qualifying spot in the 200 breast. The Las Vegas, Nevada native won state titles in 100 breast and 200 individual medley while earning three USA Swimming Scholastic All-American honors.
Anderson comes to BYU from Colony High School in Wasilla, Alaska where she earned High School All-American honors and won 100 and 200 breast state titles in 2024. Bezzant is coming off consecutive Missouri 100 breast championships out of Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis.
Eliason earned U.S. Open and Junior Nationals’ qualifying spots in 2023 and won Washington, D.C. Metro Area High School championships in the 200 IM and 100 fly in 2024.
Tiffany, the sister of men’s swimmer Jordan Tiffany and daughter of former BYU All-WAC swimmer Celeste Belliston Tiffany, joins the Cougars after winning 11 individual Utah 6A titles at Lone Peak High School.
Xanthos holds multiple Texas high school records and comes to BYU after beginning her collegiate career at Arkansas. While a freshman in Fayetteville, Xanthos set personal best times in the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM.
New Look Big 12 & Schedule Outlook
Big 12 women’s swim and dive saw Texas depart for the SEC but in 2025 adds Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to total 10 teams.
| Big 12 Women's Swim & Dive | |
| 2024 Final Standings | 2024-25 Conference Membership |
| 1. Texas | Arizona |
| 2. Houston | Arizona State |
| 3. TCU | BYU |
| 4. Cincinnati | Cincinnati |
| 5. BYU | Houston |
| 6. West Virginia | Iowa State |
| 7. Kansas | Kansas |
| 8. Iowa State | TCU |
| Utah | |
| West Virginia | |
Arizona State and Utah finished 24th and 25th, respectively, at the NCAA Championships while Arizona went without team points for a 49th-place finish.
BYU opens the season in Grand Junction, Colorado at the Intermountain Shootout hosted by NCAA Division II powerhouse Colorado Mesa. The Cougars will then travel to face Texas A&M and TCU at a tri-meet in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M finished 2023-24 ranked 12th nationally. The Horned Frogs finished third in the Big 12 and 65th at nationals.
2024 Mountain West runner-up UNLV travels to Provo for a dual meet at the Richards Building Pool on Nov. 2. Texas finished national runner-up at the NCAA Championships and will host BYU swimmers at the Texas Invite Nov. 20-22 in Austin while Cougar divers compete in Dallas at the SMU Invite.
Following back-to-back conference meets at Arizona (Dec. 20-21) and diving at Utah (Jan. 10-11), BYU hosts 2024 MPSF runner-up UCSB on Jan. 10 and reigning Summit League Champion Denver Jan. 18. The diving squad will also hit the road for January meets at Cal and Air Force while both swim and dive will face Air Force in a dual meet in Colorado Springs Jan. 24-25.
The annual rivalry meet between BYU and Utah is scheduled for Feb. 7-8 in Salt Lake City. After two weeks off to prepare for the postseason, the Cougars will compete for a Big 12 Championship in Federal Way, Washington Feb. 25-March 1. Qualifying athletes then have the opportunity to advance to NCAA Zone E Diving Championships, NCAA Swim and Dive Championships and the CSCAA National Invitational Championship.