Cheers rang out in the Richards Building as the BYU swim and dive team closed out their annual blue and white meet, signaling the beginning of their season.
The meet, held Saturday morning, consisted of two BYU teams, one in blue caps, one in white, competing against each other. Brady Wells and Taryn Toolson acted as captains for the blue team with Garret Beaman and Londyn Clawson as opposing captains for the white.
The preceding week was full of competitions in which the teams could earn points that counted toward the Saturday’s total. One of this week’s challenges for the team also included a leg work-out in which the swimmers ran all the way up and down the entire LaVell Edwards Stadium.
In the culminating co-ed 400 free relay, both sides rallied around the pool clamoring with excitement as the horse-race-like music blared through the speakers. Juniors Andrew Rutherfurd and Brent Murray sprinted side by side in the last leg amid the screams and finished with Rutherfurd reaching to touch the wall two-hundreths of a second before Murray.
The blue team came out on top, but in the end, both sides were all smiles.
“It was more about spirit than it was times,” Head Coach John Brooks said. “There’s no losers when you’re swimming against your own team. Everyone walks out happy because you’re still the same team when it’s all said and done.”
Clawson finished 1st in the 200 breast and 2nd in the 100 back and said she feels like this is a good starting point for this year’s team.
“We know where we’re beginning and we know where we want to finish and I think everyone is happy with their times this early in the season,” Clawson said. “I think it’s really smart for the coaches to have us race against each other because we can push each other and we know we need to swim fast in the pool.”
Jordan Fletcher from the blue team finished 1st in the 100 fly and 2nd in the 100 back and 50 free.
When asked about competing against fellow teammates, Fletcher replied, “It’s always a good thing. I mean, competition drives any athlete and it’s going to be that competitive spirit that drives you… and then when you have a meet and are on the same team, it’s going to drive you to beat the next team.”
Fletcher also said this intersquad meet is crucial in preparing the team for the upcoming meet in Hawaii and bigger future meets.
“It was a really wonderful meet. Everybody was neck and neck throughout the whole meet,” Fletcher said. “Blue was good, but more importantly as a team we’re going to be awesome this year.”
