PROVO, Utah — BYU women’s swim and dive fell to UNLV 162-138 in a dual meet on Saturday afternoon at the Richards Building Pool.
"I am so proud of our athletes today and the aggressive way that they raced," said BYU head swim and dive coach Tamber McAllister. "This was our last chance to fine tune race strategies before our mid season competition and so many of our incoming freshmen stepped it up big time."
The Cougars totaled seven event wins on the day with Mackenzie Miller Lung the team’s top-scorer with 18 points. Halli Williams posted 13 points followed by 11 a-piece from Sarah Eliason and Lucy Warnick.
Miller Lung swept the women’s breaststroke events with a 1:00.99 in the 100 and 2:13.09 in the 200. The junior from Clovis, California now has five event wins through three meets this season.
With Miller Lung leading the way, BYU dominated the top three spots in the 100 breast as Warnick and Abi Furqueron finished second and third, respectively. Warnick’s 1:02.65 was also good for No. 10 all-time in the program’s 100 breast records.
The Cougars again controlled the 200 breast with Miller Lung followed by Jasmine Anderson in second and Warnick in third. Anderson cut 6.6 seconds off her previous season best to go 2:14.15 and notch her place at fourth-fastest in program history. Warnick shaved six seconds off her previous season best to reach 2:15.18 and No. 7 all-time at BYU. The Las Vegas, Nevada native finished the day strong as well with a second-place and season-best 2:02.75 in the 200 individual medley.
Eliason clocked 54.10 to win the 100 fly nearly two seconds ahead of UNLV’s Lauren Palacios and jump to No. 5 all-time at BYU. The freshman from Rockville, Maryland now has three individual event wins in as many collegiate meets.
Williams’ 13 points came with a win in the 50 free and runner-up spot in the 100 free. The senior from Houston, Texas clocked 23.08 to take the 50 free and 50.60 in the 100.
The BYU women’s relay teams posted a win in the 200 medley and second-place finish in the 400 free. Katya Hulse, Miller Lung, Eliason and Williams partnered for a 1:40.25 in the 200 medley while Haylee Tiffany, Victoria Schreiber, Eliason and Williams went 3:24.31 in the 400 free.
Alexia Jackson Hansen and Brooklyn Larson Clouse put on BYU women’s diving’s top performances of the day. Jackson Hansen won the 3-meter competition at 297.30 with Larson Clouse in second at 295.88. The Cougar tandem finished two-three on 1-meter at 262.43 and 259.58, respectively.
“I saw a lot of improvement from the whole team today,” said BYU head diving coach Tyce Routson. “Some of our athletes are healthy again, and that gave us added enthusiasm and energy as a team.”
After two weeks off, BYU women’s swimming is back in action at the Texas Invite in Austin, Texas Nov. 20-22. While the swimmers are in Austin, BYU women’s divers will compete at the SMU Invite in Dallas, Texas Nov. 21-23.