BYU Swim and Dive announced the scheduling of two upcoming meets taking place in the Richards Building Pool, the team's first competitions since the global pandemic brought an abrupt end to their season in March.
The first meet will be held virtually against Cal Poly Oct. 31 at 8 a.m. MT. BYU will then host Colorado Mesa in Provo for an in-person, NCAA sanctioned meet on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. MT. Other fall meets are possible but have yet to be announced.
The virtual meet will involve both schools swimming and diving in their own home locations, and then comparing times after to see which team comes out on top. While the NCAA currently does not officially score virtual meets, this exhibition meet is still a valuable opportunity for athletes to compete against another school and better gauge their performance level.
The Cal Poly men's and women's teams took fifth and sixth at last year’s MPSF Championships, respectively, with the BYU men and women taking second and third. BYU head coach John Brooks is confident that his team will come out victorious again this Saturday against a conference opponent.
“We have been training hard and want a chance to show off our work,” Brooks said in the team’s press release. “(Cal Poly) does have a couple of really nice swimmers, but their depth isn’t nearly what our depth is.”
Competing on the men’s side for BYU is junior Josue Dominguez, who will be representing the Dominican Republic in the next Tokyo Olympics. Dominguez holds BYU records in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Other swimmers to look out for are senior Jared Shaw and junior Javier Nicolas Matta. On the diving side is sophomore Mickey Strauss, who was named the MPSF Diver of the Year last season.
For the women, All-American Kennedy Cribbs is returning for her junior year, as well as MPSF Freshman of the Year Katie McBratney and junior All-MPSF backstroker Brynn Sproul. All-Conference performer Gwen Gustafson hopes to compete but could miss because of possible coronavirus exposure.
'We want to keep everyone healthy, in shape and mentally strong this fall,' Brooks said. 'We'll take advantage of every chance we have to race.'