The Cougars returned home on Saturday after an impressive display in a short-lived one-day competition against Pacific and San Diego.
The team had to return a day early due to an error in their flights, but the team was well-pleased with what they pulled off in day one at the invite.
'We swam a lot better than we did against Hawaii,' Head Coach John Brooks said in a press release. 'It was a good representation of our team and we are getting faster every time we swim.'
Although Pacific won 694-681, the BYU men's team placed first in every event on Friday. Unlike BYU's previous meets this season, the Pacific Invitational used championship scoring instead of dual meet scoring which would have put BYU ahead.
The BYU women's team, who raced against both Pacific and San Diego on Friday, placed second at 484 behind San Diego's 650, beating out Pacific at 343.
Preston Jenkins, a freshman, snagged first place in both the 200 free and 100 back.
Jenkins said that while the team was disappointed they couldn't compete on Saturday, the team benefited from a practice against Pacific on Thursday that helped them swim better than if they had flown in the morning of the invitational.
Freshman Shawn Western placed first in the 1650 after finishing with a time of 16:08.28.
'I was relieved to see that I'd gotten a much better time than I'd swum in Hawaii, a few weeks before that,' Western said. 'When we swam that mile in Hawaii it was basically like we were swimming at 10:30 at night, even though in Hawaii it was 6 in the morning. So it definitely felt a lot easier and a lot more smooth at the Pacific Invite.
Western called his last mile in Hawaii 'a complete disaster' and said he felt this meet provided some redemption.
'I think we were definitely coming back with a vengeance after losing to Hawaii. Western said. 'We were all just kind of ready to get out there and prove ourselves.'
The men's team will not compete this weekend, but prepare to swim on Nov. 3 against UNLV.
'We've just got to keep up the hard work that we're doing right now,' Western said. 'UNLV is definitely a rival of ours. They're always a close competitor, we'd love to beat them at their own pool.'
The women's swim and dive team takes on Cal on Friday at 5 p.m. at the Richards Building Pool.