By James Bates
The BYU men”s swimming team continued its quest to repeat as Mountain West Conference Champions with a convincing home victory Friday, Nov. 7, over the University of Nevada-Las Vegas 152-80.
“I thought we performed really well, but it”s still early on in the year,” head coach Tim Powers said in a press release. “To be going 3-1 on the (400-free) relay and finishing in 3:22 in the medley relay in this altitude, those are some of the best times you”re going to see in the country.”
The Cougars had the first, second and fourth best times in the 400-free relay. The A-team finished with a time of 3:01.84
Although the 400 relay times were impressive, Powers said he was pleased with his whole team”s performance.
BYU also easily won in the diving events with junior Scott Randall from Arizona winning both the 1-and 3-meter competitions.
The Cougars came into the season picked to repeat as MWC champions in the preseason polls and are currently ranked No. 18 in the nation. UNLV was picked to finish third in the MWC.
The BYU men finished No. 18 in the nation last year and started this season ranked No. 19.
The women”s swimming and diving team fell 138-105 to UNLV on Friday. Coach Stan Crump said his team fell behind early and may have gotten discouraged. But he said his team would improve throughout the year.
“I thought we swam well,” Crump
said. “I thought we swam better as the meet went on. They (UNLV) just buzz-sawed us at the first.”
Crump was pleased with the swimming of Shannon Bloom, who finished second in the 200 free and won the 100 free.
BYU swept all of the diving events with Melinda Jones and Scott Randall winning both the 1-and 3-meter competitions.
The women”s team bounced back on Saturday to defeat San Diego State, 177-123, at the Richards Building pool.
Crump said he was pleased with the resiliency the team showed.
“It”s always tough to come back and swim so early in the afternoon,” Crump said. “I challenged them to do that and they came through for us.”
The Cougars continued to excel in the back and breast stroke events, recording the top three times in both the 100 breast and 100 back and the top four times in the 200 breast. BYU also had three of the top four times in the 200 back.
Winning races for the Cougars were, Brittany Davis (200 free and 200 back), Carolyn Wigginton (100 back), Jamie Lambert (100 breast) and Tamber McCallister (200 breast).
BYU won both relays, finishing with a time of 1:48.83 in the 200 medley and a time of 1:39.17 in the 200 free.
The men will now venture out of the MWC to compete against the University of Notre Dame and the University of Iowa in South Bend, Ind., on Nov. 14. The women will rest until Nov. 20 when they will join the men at the Speedo Cup in Long Beach, Calif.
