BYU swim and dive makes a splash at the MDSF Championships, with men taking first overall and women third

BYU swim and dive captured their third consecutive MPSF Conference Championship, with the swimmers competing in St. George and the divers in Mission Viejo, California.

Overall, the Cougars ended Saturday evening with 830 points, with the women’s team taking third with 592 points.

Diving had a successful last day of the Championships with five top-1 finishes from the men, and the women with four top-15 finishes.

Senior Mickey Strauss claimed a well-earned first place, scoring a 375.70. Fellow senior Chase Hindmarsh was close behind with a 353.65 for second place, and Cody Dreesen, Carter Davis, and Nathan Marshall took fifth, sixth, and seventh place with scores of 329.25, 298.60, and 225.10, respectively.

With both Strauss and Hindmarsh graduating after this year, it will be a toss-up to see who “dives” to take their places as leaders of the team and on the scoreboards. On the other hand, Alexia Jackson remains a top diver for the women, and as only a freshman this year, she will continue to grow and dominate in the program.

Jackson grabbed her second first place win of the Championship in the women’s platform final with an impressive score of 277.80. Brooklyn Larson secured fourth place with a 209.85, and the next Cougar on the board was Hailey Johnson in eight place at 193.55. Sophia Debergh also had a notable score of 177.35 to come in at eleventh in the same event.

The women’s 1650-yard freestyle commenced Saturday night, and UC San Diego proved that they breed dolphins with both first and second places earned by their swimmers. Megan Bergstrom got BYU on the podium in third place with a time of 16:51.65, her last lap an impressive time of 29.29 seconds.

Regan Geldmacher came in at fifth place in the same event with a 16:59.30 finish, only .37 seconds quicker than the sixth place time. BYU also took third in the men’s 1650 yard freestyle, with Abe Barragan swimming a 15:34.13. Darvin Andersen secured fifth place with a 15:40.02.

The podium just slipped out of reach for the women in the 200 yard backstroke, but fourth and fifth place were secured by Liza Slade (swimming a 1:58.13) and Emma Marusakova (1:58.68).

The Cougars also took fourth in the men’s 200-yard backstroke, with Diego Camacho Saldago swimming a 1:44.26.

Halli Williams scored eighth with a 50.65 in the 100-yard freestyle, and was also part of the team that scored seventh in the women 400 yard freestyle final relay.

The men’s 100-yard freestyle yielded impressive results for BYU, Javier Nicolas in second place with a 43.61, and teammate Brigham Harrison in third at 43.69. Luigi Riva also placed in the event at eighth place with a 44.30.

Mackenzie Miller scored the highest of the Cougars in the women 200 yard breaststroke, boasting a 2:15.68.

The men painted the scoreboard bluer in the same event with Evan VanderSluis in third swimming an impressive 1:58.14. Emerson Edwards was literally milliseconds behind in fourth with a 1:58.19, and Bonnett and Josue Dominguez placed seventh and eighth with a 1:59.59 and a 2:05.40.

The 200-yard butterfly presented tough competition for both the men and women. Despite this, the men prevailed, with Brad Prolo taking first with a phenomenal 1:44.25. Tony Puertas also boasted an impressive 1:47.78 for a fifth place finish. The men also took the top of the 400-yard freestyle relay with a first place finish at 2:25.25. Harrison, Saldago, Riva, and Nicolas swam this event, and earned the men’s team a whopping 40 points towards their overall final score of 830.

With a weekend of personal records and overall domination, the Cougars returned to Provo with satisfaction, and now will prepare to send some players to the NIC National and the NCAA Nationals. The dive and swim teams continue to be in the swim of things, and will be strong contenders in those upcoming meets.