Pool Records Fall as Utah Women Beat BYU 176-124
SALT LAKE CITY- The Utah women's swim and dive team beat rivals BYU Friday night at the Don Reddish Pool, breaking three pool records, tying one, and taking first in both diving events. Utah beat BYU 176-124 to open the dual weekend.
"It was a very solid effort tonight and we have put in a few good weeks of training," said head coach Joe Dykstra on Friday's meet. "We got a couple of girls back that have been missing which really helped the lineup today. I couldn't be happier with the performance. We won the majority of races, broke a number of pool records on both sides, so I think it was a very competitive, high-level swim meet. I'm looking forward to what the future holds in a few weeks."
Utah started off strong in the meet with Emma Broome, Charity Pittard, Emma Lawless, and Maddie Woznick breaking the pool record in the 200 medley relay (1:41.09). Audrey Reimer broke the pool records in both the 100 back (54.19) and 200 back (1:56.81), winning both of those races. Woznick also tied the pool record in the 100 free (50.22) to mark four record nights in Salt Lake City.
BYU also was able to break four pool records on Friday, coming in the 100 breast, 200 breast, 200 IM, and 200 medley free relay. Utah took home 10 event wins of the 16.
Utah took all spots on the podium in the 1000 free led by senior Sara McClendon taking first with a time of 10:15.07 on her senior night. Taylor Kabacy and Mandy Gebhart placed second and third, respectively.
Alyssa Watson took second in the 200 free (1:52.39) before Reimer collected the pool record in the 100 back. Pittard took second in the 100 breast (1:03.84). Zofia Niemczak took second in the 200 fly (2:05.27) in the next event, while Woznick took home another first place finish, this time in the 50 free (23.20). Woznick then turned around to win the 100 free as well (50.22) to tie the pool record.
Following Reimer's win in the 200 back, Pittard took second in the 200 breast (2:15.97) and McClendon took first in the 500 free (4:57.77) for her second win of the night.
Lawless won the 100 fly (55.37) and Watson took third in the 200 IM (2:06.89). Utah finished off the meet taking second in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:33.06.
On the diving side, Utah went one-two on the 1m and 3m at the Ute Natatorium.
"We had a great meet. It is always fun to go against BYU and it brings out the best of both teams so we were both pretty sharp," said diving coach Richard Marschner. "Lexi and Lizzy had a really great meet on both boards to go one-two, so I was happy to continue to build on their successes."
Lexi Mills swept the competition Friday night against BYU, taking first in both the 3m (297.75) and 1m (281.85). Lizzy DeCecco followed in second for both events, scoring 290.40 on the 3m and 278.78 on the 1m. Regan Caufield placed fifth in the 3m (262.88) and 1m (256.73). Emma Ruchala placed sixth on the 1m with a score of 256.65.
The Utah men will be in action Saturday morning at 11 a.m. MT at the Ute Natatorium against BYU.