By Melissa Brennan
In their first meet back since the break, the No. 20 BYU men”s swimming team fell short against No. 19 University of Washington Saturday afternoon, finishing behind by only 20 points, 93-113.
Cougar swimmer Kurt Mullen and Husky swimmer Derek Rose said many of the swimmers were sick from a bad bug that was circulating, but despite the illness that has been going around, most of the swimmers were able to swim well.
“We have a pretty good dual meet going on between our teams every year,” Mullen said. “Our teams are well matched.”
The Huskies started the meet off with a win in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:19.70 to the Cougars time of 3:28.18. They also took wins in the second and third events with John Lyssand in the 1000 freestyle and Justin Adrian who out touched BYU”s Gary Tan in the 200 freestyle.
BYU swimmers fought back against Washington, winning the next three events. Kurt Mullen swam to victory in the 50 freestyle, posting a respectable time of 20.84. Diogo Yabe swam the 200 IM in 1:50.26 with teammate Randy Belliston close behind at 1:52.71. In addition, Kenny Carpenter won the 200 butterfly in 1:52.00. These swims helped to close the gap between the two teams but still left the Cougars trailing 13 points, 63-50.
Washington took control of the meet again when they finished first in the next two events, including Adrian winning the 100 freestyle in 45.35 and Diogo Bezerra in the 200 backstroke in 1:51.50.
BYU”s Belliston continued to fight as he swam the 500 freestyle, winning in a time of 4:37.50. However, in the next event the Huskies came back with Phil Davis winning the 200 Breast in 2:03.36.
Finishing the meet out strong, the Cougars took first and third in the final freestyle relay, but it was not enough to snatch the lead and win the meet. Instead the team ended the day only 20 points behind.
“We weren”t terribly upset with the results,” Mullen said. “We had some good swims and they had some good swims, but in the end, they ended up on top.”
Huskies” star, Rose, had only good things to say about the Cougars after the close competition.
“BYU raced really well, they have some really fast people,” said Rose, “We enjoy being able to race them every year.”
The men”s team has a break from racing this week and will next compete against Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Thursday, Jan. 22. The BYU women”s swimming team will start competing again this week facing Colorado State at 6 p.m. Friday, and New Mexico at 12 p.m. Saturday. Both meets will be at home in the Richards Building swimming pool.
