PROVO -- Cougar swimmers and divers were back in the pool Friday to compete in the Annual Blue/White meet where the blue team came out on top with 169 points as the white team tallied 158.
“We did really well,” said BYU head swimming coach Tim Powers. “We had some really amazing swims for this time of the year.”
Powers applauded the performance of freshman Candice Smith who swam a lifetime best in the 100 back with a time of 56.69, four seconds ahead of second place. Speaking of Smith, Powers said, “She went to Olympic trials this summer, it’s not like she’s not a good swimmer. She did a great job!”
Junior Natasha Menezes also had a great night as she won the 200 free (1:50.60) and the 500 free (4:57.94). “The 500 free of Natasha was very good and her 200 free was also two seconds faster than it would be normally for this time of the year,” said Powers.
Other great swims came from senior Jacoby Jacobsen who won both the 200 IM (1:56.36) and the 100 back (51.74) for the blue team.
Senior Gregor Greiner, who has been out of the pool for a few weeks with a concussion, was back in the water to win the 50 free (21.58) for the blue team. “He swam pretty well considering he hasn’t been able to do much of anything the last couple of weeks,” said Powers.
Chalking up points for the blue team was also sophomore Vytenis Slenys who won both the 100 fly (51.02) and the 100 breast (58.03).
“We have a lot of young talent,” said Powers. “John Kendrick is just back from a mission and will do great things this year.” Kendrick won the 200 free (1:44.25) and the 500 free (4:48.23) again for the blue team.
Other wins came from sophomore Rachel Grant who scored for the white team winning the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.76. BYU all-time 50 free record holder, sophomore Aleesha Miller won the 50 free (23.55) and the 100 free (51.90) for the white team.
Junior Kirsty Ferrell won the 100 fly with a time of 57.95, as freshman Stott Bushnell won the 100 free in 48.61. Freshmen swept the 100 breast with Kelsey Higginson in front (1:08.76), closely followed by Karalee Fuller (1:08.87) and Mandy Linford (1:09.69).
“We’ve been working really hard and overall I was very pleased with their swims,” Powers said. “We will be ready for TCU next week.”
The team will travel to Ft. Worth, Texas to take on conference opponent, TCU for the first dual meet of the season Thursday at 5 p.m. MT.