Swim and dive teams perform well at Arena Invitational

174

The BYU men’s and women’s swimming teams had a strong performance at the Arena Invitational this past weekend.

Head coach Tim Powers believes the team had a strong performance against some of the nation’s top teams.

“We did pretty well this weekend,” Powers said. “We competed against some top teams and had some nice performances for where we were. It was very good for gaining experience and getting a feel for what the standard is. I’m really pleased with our performances, especially because I feel we did a lot better than last year.”

Jordan Fletcher, David Armstrong, Ryan Krause and Garrett Beaman finished fifth in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:22.45. Taryn Toolson, Andrea Grant, Kim Welch and Hailey Campbell took ninth in the same event with a time of 1:33.86.

Rafael Alfaro had a strong individual showing during the invitational. Alfaro had a time of 1:51.08 in the 200 IM finals and finished 13th overall. He also finished ninth overall in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:03.29.

Kim Welch had a strong performance for the women and finished eighth in the 100 fly with a time of 54.92.

The men’s 400 free relay team comprised of Alfaro, Seth Russell, Brady Wells and Andrew Rutherfurd finished fifth with a time of 3:01.70. The women’s team of Campbell, Grant, Candice Smith and Toolson also performed well in the same event finishing sixth with a time of 3:24.92.

The dive team also competed this weekend at the Wildcat Invite in Tucson, Ariz.

Brandon Watson took first in the 3-meter springboard competition with a score of 420.90. Watson also earned third place in the men’s 1-meter with a score of 361.50.

Head coach Keith Russell believes this was a successful meet for the team.

“We had a lot of good things happen,” Russell said. “The Pac-12 has very talented divers, both men and women. Brandon had a very good showing on the 3-meter and Syrena made the finals in the 1-meter. So, overall it was a pretty successful meet for us.”

Syrena Miskin also had a promising performance, placing eighth in 1-meter with a score of 233.50.

The team will take a break from competing and go to San Diego for the team’s annual Christmas break training. The Cougars will next compete Jan. 6 against Arizona State at BYU.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email