Jake Taylor earns two First Team All-American honors

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Jake Taylor earned First Team All-American honors in the 100 and 200 yard backstroke at the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend.

BYU athletes Jake Taylor, Payton Sorenson and Kevin Dreeson competed in the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend. (BYU Photo)

“Jake came out sixth and All-American so that’s very exciting,” said BYU head coach John Brooks. “The most impressive thing is that we have three returned missionaries at the meet, who took two years off. Add that to the facilities that we have, to do what we did compared to everyone else at the NCAA Championships, who have unbelievable facilities, is pretty amazing. Our athletes are dedicated to this university, and finishing in the top 25 is awesome for us. This is one of the fastest meets on the planet and I’m just happy that we can have swimmers here and compete.”

Sophomore Payton Sorenson earned Second-Team All-American honors in the 50 freestyle with a 14th place finish. Sorenson just missed the 100 freestyle finals on Saturday, clocking a 43.57.

Junior Kevin Dreeson scored a 305.35 in the 1-meter dive putting him at 32nd overall.

“Dreesen got in the groove after his first couple of dives and hopefully he can continue his success next season,” Brooks said. “It was he and Payton’s first trip to the NCAA’s so it is a great experience for them.”

In the 100 backstroke finals Taylor clocked a 45.52 to earn a fourth place finish and All-American honors. He also earned All-American honors in the 200 backstroke finals by swimming a 1:39.93, good enough for sixth place.

The Cougars finished the meet ranked 21st overall to end the 2015-2016 Swim and Dive season.

 

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