PROVO, Utah — BYU men’s swimming moved into day two of competition at the Texas Invitational while diving opened the SMU Invite on Thursday.
Swimming Recap | Texas Invitational | Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center | Austin, Texas
BYU swimmers continued to tally fast times in Austin as they combined for 31 season-best times, 18 of which went for collegiate-bests as well. Seven finishes also marked top-10 performances in program history.
"We had some fantastic swims today," said BYU head swim and dive coach Tamber McAllister. "We're incredibly proud of everyone's efforts and excited for another day tomorrow."
Luigi Riva improved his career 100 fly time by 2.72 seconds over the course of the day and finished the final in 10th at 46.39. Riva now holds BYU’s second-fastest ever 100 fly. Six of the top 10 100 fly times in program history have now been recorded during the 2023-24 season or through four meets this season.
Jacob Ballard finished 13th in the 100 fly at 47.62 and now stands at No. 9 all-time at BYU.
Emerson Edwards and Peter Etzold finished eighth and ninth, respectively, in the 100 breast preliminary round. This sent Edwards onto the Championship final where he finished eighth following a personal-best 53.36 in the prelim. Edwards now ranks sixth all-time in the 100 breast at BYU.
Etzold, meanwhile, went from 53.39 in the prelim to 53.17 in the final and jumped to the fourth-fastest 100 breast in school history.
BYU’s 200 free top-10 was rewritten as well with personal-best performances from Tanner Nelson, Joshua Reed and Nathaniel Eliason.
Nelson led off the Cougars’ 800 free relay “A” squad with a 1:36.09, enough to tie for third all-time at BYU in the 200 free. Reed clocked a personal-best 1:36.10 in the 200 free race and holds the sixth-fastest on the program top-10 board. Eliason led off the 800 free relay “B” squad at 1:36.62 and now ranks seventh all-time.
Nelson was followed on the “A” squad by Darwin Anderson, Payton Plumb and Reed. Together, they went 6:27.30, enough for a top-15 national ranking over distance teams from Auburn, Duke and Texas A&M.
In other relay action, Max Kleinman, Edwards, Riva and Eliason clocked 1:26.49 to give the Cougars a sixth-place finish in the 200 medley. BYU’s 200 medley “A” squad topped “A” units from USC and Wisconsin, both of which entered the meet top-30 nationally.
Diving Recap | SMU Invite | Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center | Dallas, Texas
Chase Hindmarsh, Marti Llop and Ezra Purcell each advanced to the men’s 3-meter final in Dallas on Thursday. Hindmarsh finished runner-up in the 3-meter preliminary round, then sixth overall with a combined score of 638.10. His 344.55 in the prelim was good for a collegiate-best on 3-meter.
Llop and Purcell took seventh and 11th, respectively, with scores of 600.75 and 489.95.
The Cougars continue from Austin and Dallas beginning Friday at 10 a.m. CST.