BYU men's diving are champions once again. The Cougars reclaimed their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship title with 751 points while the women's team place in third scoring 620 points within the four days of competition.
“I’m just so proud of all of our athletes, with their performances and getting lifetime-best times,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “We had enough men to put together a great conference team. Our men expected to win and we came out and we did it.”
Nicholas Suder claimed first place for the men’s one-meter and took second place for the three-meter and platform boards.
The BYU swim and dive teams competed in Nev. and Ariz. previously. Photo courtesy BYU Photo.
'Nic is unbelievable,' head diving coach Keith Russell said. 'He's been doing some great things and if he can keep doing those things and maintain a great attitude, he'll have a chance to go to NCAAs this year.'
Suder took second place in the diving event with a score of 271.25 points, beat out by Hawaii who finished with a score of 432.20 points to claim first. The Cougars claimed third place with Edward Young scoring 237.15 points.
The women's team was beat out by UC Davis (712.50 points) and UC Santa Barbara (638 points). The men's team beat out Hawaii (619 points) who took second and Pacific (442 points) who placed third.
“Overall I think we contributed a lot and finished well as a team,' Russell said. 'I would have liked to see us in the finals as a top team , but I feel really good about what we've done and the contribution we made.'
For the women's diving team Mackenzie Rands took fifth place with a total of 197.75 points followed by her teammate Raleigh Williams Taylor who took sixth with 188.80 points.
Williams Taylor also took third for the women’s one-meter and three-meter boards.
For the swim team, Senior Hailey Campbell defended her title and ended the competition as a three-year reigning champion for the 100 and 200-yard backstroke. She beat out UC Santa Barbara with a time of 1:57:25.
“We had some great swims tonight, a lot of our women did a really good job today trying to step up and battling for our spot,” Brooks said. “Our women had a pretty rocky year with injuries and such. All things considered, I’m very proud of them.”
For the BYU men's team Jake Taylor walked away with a win and a time that should put him on the boards nationally for the 200 backstroke. He completed his event with a time of 1:42.42, while his teammate Rainer Ng followed right behind him, claiming second place in the same event with a time of 1:46:17.
BYU also claimed first in the men's 200 butterfly, won by freshman Lucas Aquino with a time of 1:46:78.
The men's 200 breaststroke was claimed by Chad Sorensen with a time of 1:59.22. This was Sorensen's first recorded win of the series. Teammate Hayden Palmer claimed third place in the same event with a time of 2:00.88 getting beat out by Hawaii.
Losing by under a tenth of a second, former Olympian Rafael Alfaro claimed second place in the men's 100 freestyle. Hawaii claimed first.
In the 1650 freestyle event Dallin Johnson claimed third with a time of 15:50.36.
The women's 200 breaststroke was swam by Riley Buer. With a time of 2:16.38 she claimed fourth place.
Kimberly Doroghian finished fourth with a time of 2:01.72 in the 200 fly.
For the women's 100 freestyle Andrea Grant claimed seventh with a time of 51.24, while Camille Okelberry also placed seventh in the 1650 free event with a time of 17:08.81.
Both the men and women diving teams will compete in the Zone E Diving meet at the Air Force Cadet Natatorium on March 13-15.