Utah Swim & Dive Falls To Ranked Stanford Squads In Season Opener

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah swimming and diving hosted the Stanford Cardinal on Friday at the Ute Natatorium for its first dual meet of the 2021-22 season, marking the first time since 2017 that the Cardinal have traveled to Utah. The No. 2-ranked Stanford women and No.10-ranked Stanford men came away with the win, beating the Utah men 191-104 and the women 192-105.
 
"We had really good competition today," said head coach Joe Dykstra. "Stanford's women's team has plenty of Olympians on them. It was great practice to start the season. We are coming off an intense fall training camp this past week as well. I'm also very proud of our freshman. They came into this meet very nervous and learned a lot of lessons today."
 
In The Pool
Utah began the day by taking second place in both the men's and women's 200 medley relays. The team of Andrei Ungur, Andrew Britton, Cooper DeRyk, and Finn O'hAimhirgin finished in 1:30.07, while Emma Lawless, Madison Story, Katie Hale, Leyre Casarin finished in 1:43.41. Utah also performed well in the women's 1000 Free, with Taylor Kabacy (10:26.08) and Marlene Sandberg (10:27.39) finishing in second and third place, respectively.
 
Utah picked up third-place finishes in the next few races from Dylan Becker in the 1000 free (9:42.58), Ungur in the 100 back (50.56), Story in the 100 breast (1:06.02) and Baylor Lewis in the 100 breast (58.12).
 
Casarin continued her strong performances with a second-place finish in the 50 free (23.45), while O'hAimhirgin finished third (21.01) on the men's side. Casarin also finished second in the 100 free (50.83) shortly after and Kayla Miller followed in third place (52.47). O'hAimhirgin picked up the first Utah victory of the day, winning the 100 free in a time of 45.32.
 
After Audrey Reimer and Parker McOmber earned runner-up finishes in the 200 back, Charity Pittard won the 200 breast in 2:20.63 for Utah's second win. Lewis had another strong showing on the men's side where he finished in second place in the 200 breast and the 200 IM.  
 
The final event of the day was the most exciting, with team of O'hAimhirgin, JP Hynes, Santiago Contreras, and Lucas Calderon winning the men's 400 free relay in 3:03.78.
 
For full results from Utah's season opener, click here.
 
On The Boards
Utah's standout on the boards today was Holly Waxman, who placed third overall on the 1-meter dive with a score of 266.10. Lizzy DeCecco finished fifth with a score of 261.75. Ben Smyth collected a third-place finish on the 3m for the men's team with a score of 292.13, while DeCecco finished fourth on the 3m for the women. She scored 289.98 points. The men competed without top divers Luke McDivitt and Tony Chen, who will look to get ready for next weekend's meet with Cal.
 
Looking Ahead
Utah will begin preparing for another tough matchup at home next weekend when reigning Pac-12 champions California visit the Don Reddish Pool next Friday, Oct. 23. After that, the men will visit UNLV for a meet on Saturday, Nov. 6.