By Anna Wendt
In their first home meet of 2012, the BYU men’s and women’s swim and dive teams competed Friday night against Arizona State. The men won 132 -111 and the women barely lost by a score of 122-117.
This was the Cougars’ first meet in six weeks, though the team trained in San Diego over Christmas break. Head coach Tim Powers was pleased with the results.
“It was important to see we could get right off and compete,” Powers said.
And compete they did. It was a tough meet for both BYU and ASU, with the scores remaining close throughout the entirety of the match.
The night started off well for the Cougars as the 200 medley team of Hailey Campbell, Taryn Toolson, Kassy Bispo and Kim Welch took first place with a time of 1:43.84. In the men’s heat of the same event, Jordan Fletcher, Ryan Krause, Brady Wells and Garret Beaman took second place with a time of 1:33.09.
Stott Bushnell took first in the 200 free with a time of 1:42.79, with Seth Russell right behind, finishing with a time of 1:42.91.
Later in the night, Toolson touched in with a time of 23.53, winning the heat of the 50 free.
“We trained for one week in San Diego and were worked pretty hard so we didn’t have much of a break. I’m really impressed with our team. I was nervous for the meet but really happy with how we did,” Toolson said.
As for the divers, Brandon Watson continued with his impressive season, winning the 1-meter springboard with a score of 375.98. Travis Day took third place in the 1-meter with a score of 309.98. Later, Watson took second place in the 3-meter with a score of 401.93.
In the women’s 3-meter, Dayan Christensen won first place with a score of 298.20 and Syrena Miskin took third with a score of 260.63. Christensen also took first in the 1-meter with a score of 288.53, sweeping the boards.
Facing a tough team like ASU, Watson was happy to pull off a win.
“When there’s good competition, I get more tense than usual … I definitely feel like I can do better, but I’m not disappointed,” Watson said.
As far as his expectations for the rest of the season, Powers has one goal singled out.
“We just need to continue to improve,” he said. “[The season] has been what we’ve expected: steady improvement. It’s all a learning experience.”
The teams will next compete in Colorado, first against Air Force on Jan. 13 and then against Denver and Wyoming on Jan. 14. On Jan. 27 the Cougars will be back at home to take on rival Utah.
