ST. GEORGE, Utah — BYU’s swim teams traveled to St. George, Utah this week for the Dixie State Invitational from Nov. 18-20. The three-day meet was a chance for BYU’s women’s team to compete against 10 other teams and the men’s team to face three opponents.
“We were so blessed to be able to have a prelim, finals championship style meet,” said BYU head coach Shari Skabelund. “The athletes brought so much energy and found ways to keep improving with so many solid performances. It has been an incredible week. We love our swimmers and divers!”
The women’s team started off the night with a win from Brynn Sproul, who took first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.80.
Katie McBratney placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:17.26, and BYU swimmers Addie Richards, Sofia Pusceddu and Summer Murphy took the top three placements of the C Final of that race.
Tanner Nelson gave the men’s team their first first place finish of the night in the 1650-yard freestyle, breaking BYU’s school record with a time of 15:03.55. Diego Camacho then earned second in the 200-yard backstroke, swimming the race in 1:45.48.
BYU took multiple top placements in the 200-yard butterfly. Brad Prolo won the race with a time of 1:45.24, while Tony Puertas and Jackson Dubreuil took third and fourth with times of 1:47.58 and 1:48.31 respectively.
A relay team of Javier Nicolas Matta, Brigham Harrison, Roger Woods and Connor Stirling won the 400-yard freestyle relay, recording a time of 2:53.55. Stirling then took third in the individual 100-yard freestyle with a time of 44:03, and Woods followed just behind in fourth with a 44.25.
Emerson Edwards came in second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 1:57.65. Josue Dominguez won the B Final of that race with a 1:56.61, and Evan VanderSluis took fourth in the B Final with a 2:04.00.
The divers swept each of their events again on Saturday. Kayli Kersavage took first in the women’s three-meter dive with a score of 258.95, while Eric Muir won the men’s one-meter dive with a score of 261.45.
The Cougars finished the invitational with the women’s team in fourth place with 535 points and the men’s team in second with 930 points.
The swim teams’ next competition will be a home meet against Air Force on Jan. 14-15. More information will be available at a later date.