SALT LAKE CITY — BYU men’s swim and dive tallied six more race wins on its way to a 168-132 rivalry victory over Utah at Ute Natatorium on Saturday.
The Cougars’ 2025 rivalry win marks their first in Salt Lake City since the two programs last met as conference foes in February 2011. Following a 181-113 win over Utah in Provo last season, the BYU men now have their first string of back-to-back defeats of Utah since 2011-2012.
“This feels amazing,” said BYU head swim and dive coach Tamber McAllister. “This brings back a lot of the feelings from the early 2000s when I swam at BYU and we would come up here and win. I’m super proud of our team for stepping it up. They dug deep to get wins in some of those races where it was close.”
Tanner Nelson won his 12th and 13th races of the season with first-place finishes in both 200 individual medley and 500 free on Saturday. Nelson clocked a personal-best 1:46.69 in the 200 IM, enough to surpass current assistant coach Hayden Palmer for No. 10 all-time at BYU. Nelson’s 500 free victory came with a time of 4:22.67.
After missing each of the last six meets with injury, the Cougars’ Jordan Tiffany returned this weekend and on Saturday won his second event of the meet with a 47.22 in the 100 fly.
Freshmen Nathaniel Eliason and Peter Etzold added 18 more points to BYU’s total with wins in the 100 free and 200 breast, respectively. Eliason clocked 44.47 in the 100 free for his seventh event win this season while Etzold won the 200 breast at 1:59.53.
The Cougars put the meet away with first and third-place finishes, respectively, from its “A” and “B” 400 free relay squads. Max Kleinman, Eliason, Payton Plumb and Luigi Riva combined to win the relay at 2:56.12. Asa Frisbee, Joshua Reed, Nelson and Diego Camacho Salgado took third in 2:59.00.
Chase Hindmarsh and Marti Llop finished third and fifth, respectively, for BYU’s top men’s diving performances of the day, these on 3-meter.
“Our energy was good, but we need to work on our consistency in a hyped-up environment like this,” said BYU head dive coach Tyce Routson. “This was our sixth week in a row of training, so I’m proud of my divers.”
Hindmarsh totaled 301.45 points, while Llop’s fifth-place came with a 290.10.
“Our athletes did a great job with how they emotionally prepped for this meet, and we want to build that into Big 12’s,” McAllister said. “This gives them confidence, and they know they’re on the right track.”
BYU men’s swim and dive now has two weeks to prepare before postseason competition begins at the 2025 Big 12 Swim and Dive Championships Feb. 25-March 1 in Federal Way, Washington.