MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – Nathan Gonzales won the men’s 1-meter championship during the second day of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships.
“The men’s divers did great today, as well as Preston Jenkins and Kelly Hatanaka,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “Overall, the team is fighting for every second and cheering hard.”
Gonzales took first in the men’s 1-meter championship with a score of 350.35 followed by senior Matt Denkers in second with a season high of 333.50.
Senior Preston Jenkins earned another personal best on the second day in the men’s 200-yard IM, improving his time by more than a second at 1:46.25 and taking third place in the event. He also improved his No. 3 BYU All-Time Best time. Kelly Hatanaka also recorded a personal best in the women’s 200-yard IM, increasing her time from 2:05.71 to 2:04.27, taking sixth place.
Freshman Brad Prolo also qualified for the men’s 200-yard IM championship final and took seventh place with a time of 1:50.03.
Senior Vanessa Moffatt recorded a season best in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, increasing her time by almost 10 seconds, finishing second in the consolation final with a time of 4:56.31. In the men’s 500-yard freestyle, senior Shawn Western posted a new season high of 4:31.42, taking second place in his consolation final. Sophomore James Sorensen followed in third in the consolation final with a time of 4:31.95. In preliminaries, Sorensen recorded a new personal best of 4:31.68.
Senior Natalie Bennion and sophomore Katie Smith both qualified for the women’s 50-yard freestyle consolation final. In the final, Bennion took second with a new personal best of 23.43 and Smith took sixth with a time of 23.62.
In the 200-yard freestyle relays, both the men’s and women’s teams took fourth with times of 1:21.35 and 1:32.37, respectively.
“The men and women rose to the challenge today against great competition,” BYU dive coach Tyce Routson said. “The men were just a few points from taking the top-three spots in finals. Kimble Haler achieved his zone cut score he has been working for all season. Our women are showing great consistency. We need that confidence going into our events tomorrow.”
In the 1-meter prelims, Kimble Mahler earned his first BYU zone cut with a score of 303.15 and Morgan Cooper recorded a season best of 319.00. In finals, Bryce Farabee earned a new personal best on the 1-meter with a score of 320.70.
In the women’s 1-meter, Elizabeth Holmes took third in finals with a score of 255.55 and Morgan Mellow finished in sixth with a 236.05.
The MPSF Championships continue tomorrow morning with swimming preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. PST in Monterey Park, California and diving starts at 11 a.m. PST in Pasadena. Live stats and a live stream are available on the schedule page.