By KAREN DUFFIN
The BYU women’s swimming and diving team dominated the University of Utah Saturday, taking a 177-64 victory.
Two Cougars recorded double wins with All-American Sarah McKeever taking the 200-yard individual medley and the 200 fly. Hanalee Hawkins celebrated her birthday with two wins in the 50 and 100 free. She recorded her best times of the season in both of those events, almost beating her all-time bests in both.
The stands were filled with an enthusiastic crowd that was not disappointed after cheering on the team to victory in 10 out of 13 events. The team not only won those 10, it took first and second in nine of the 10 victories. Hawkins said the team felt the crowd’s enthusiasm and was able to pull together for a unified win.
“We had some good swims tonight,” said head coach Stan Crump. “Hanalee had an awesome meet. The sprinters have had a little more rest than the other swimmers and she really responded to that.”
The swimmers took the medley relay in the fastest time of the season, almost beating the high-altitude pool record. The Cougars A and B teams both beat Utah’s A team in the relay. Because of the win, the Cougars will go into the WAC championship seeded higher.
In diving, the women swept Utah with Rachelle Smith winning on the one-meter and Christina Conn on the three-meter.
The team looks forward to a three-week break before heading to the meet that really counts — the WAC championship in Seattle.
“We are in good shape for the WAC,” Crump said. “All we have to do now is rest.”
Strong swimmers for the Cougars include Hanalee Hawkins and All-American Sarah McKeever. For the divers, the team looks to Christina Conn and Rachelle Smith to pull of consistent, strong dives.
The team’s training schedule will relax some to allow it the rest it needs before the most important meet of the season. Hawkins said the practices will be just as intense but not as lengthy. It will include more anaerobics than aerobics and more sprints. In a week or so the team will stop lifting and having double workouts.
The recess will give the team a “break mentally so we can go to WAC and swim strong both physically and mentally,” Hawkins said. “We need to bring it all into one focus: WAC. It’s crunch time.”
