Swim & Dive on the Road for Pair of Dual-Meets Against Arizona Schools
SALT LAKE CITY– Back from the holiday break, the Utah swimming and diving team returns to the pool for its first dual meets of 2022 when both the men's and women's squads visit Arizona State on Friday, Jan. 14th, and Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 15th.
"We are excited to return to action this weekend after a month off from competition," head coach Joe Dykstra said. "Both of the Arizona schools have very good squads, so it will be a great opportunity to race some top-flight talent as we get into the championship portion of our schedule."
The Utes will be tested immediately out of the break. According to the latest CSCAA polls, the Arizona State men are ranked 6th, with Arizona following at 20th. Arizona's women are ranked 24th, the first time they have entered the top-25 this season.
Since joining the Pac-12 Conference (2011-2012), the men have topped ASU four times (two on the road) but are currently looking to snap a three-meet losing streak against the Sun Devils. The women have earned one win against ASU, dating back to the 2013-2014 season when both the men and women defeated ASU inside the Ute Natatorium (M: 191-205, W: 159-137). Against Arizona, Utah have only competed against the Wildcats five times with the men earning back-to-back victories in the 2013-14 (152-148) and 2014-15 (187-113) seasons. The women earned their first ever win against Arizona at home in 2019-2020, defeating the Wildcats 174-126 in the historic win. Both the men and women have yet to claim a victory against the Wildcats on the road.
On Friday, the dual-meet with Arizona State begins at 3 p.m. from the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. On Saturday, the dual-meet with Arizona is slated to begin at 12 p.m. from the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
Utah did not compete against either of the Arizona schools last season.
"Going down to the Arizona Schools is a great way to start off the second half of our season, especially since the diving portion of Pac-12's was just moved to Tucson," head diving coach Richard Marschner said. "The women face an incredibly tough challenge and get the opportunity to compete against a reigning Olympic Silver medalist. We have put in a lot of hard work since competing at Princeton over a month ago and have some new dives that we are ready to compete."
How to Follow
A live stream will be made available during the Arizona State meet on Friday afternoon. There will be no live stream for the meet against the Wildcats on Saturday but fans can keep up with the action with live results through the Meet Mobile app.
Since Joining Pac-12 Series History
| ASU | ||
| Men | Women | |
| 2011-12 (Home) | 2011-12 (Home) | |
| W: 165-137 | L: 178-100 | |
| 2012-13 (Away) | 2012-13 (Away) | |
| W: 158-122 | L: 154-121 | |
| 2013-14 (Home) | 2013-14 (Home) | |
| W: 191-205 | W: 159.-137 | |
| 2014-15 (Away) | 2014-15 (Away) | |
| W: 174.5-119.5 | L: 191-108 | |
| 2016-17 (Home) | 2016-17 (Home) | |
| L: 168-132 | L: 159.5-138.5 | |
| 2017-18 (Away) | 2017-18 (Away) | |
| L: 197-103 | L: 207.5-92.5 | |
| 2019-20 (Home) | 2019-20 (Home) | |
| L: 176-122 | L: 165.5-132.5 | |
| U of Arizona | ||
| Men | Women | |
| 2013-14 (Home) | 2013-14 (Home) | |
| W: 152-148 | L: 204-96 | |
| 2014-15 (Neutral) | 2014-15 (Neutral) | |
| W: 187-113 | L: 210-90 | |
| 2016-17 (Home) | 2016-17 (Home) | |
| L: 156-142 | L: 171-119 | |
| 2017-18 (Away) | 2017-18 (Away) | |
| L: 185-77 | L: 147-115 | |
| 2019-20 (Home) | 2019-20 (Home) | |
| L: 172-129 | W: 174-126 |
Last Time Out
The Utes are eager to get back into the pool after earning their first win of the 2021-2022 season at the Big Al Invitational, hosted by Princeton. It was an impressive showing, as the men tallied 1075.5 points to secure the victory over meet host Princeton (1015.5) and the women scored 1005 points to also top Princeton (849) en route to the team's first victory. Both the swim team and diving team performed well, capping what was a strong finish to the first half of the season.
"We had a great overall meet with 10 personal bests and a pool record set by Ben on the platform," coach Marschner said. "It was another really solid invite for us and we're looking really good going into the second half of the season. I'm excited for us to get some training in and continue our excellence after the break."
The Utes got out to a strong start after the first day of the Big Al Invite collecting four outright event victories. The women's 200 free relay team of Leyre Casarin, Maddie Woznick, Kayla Miller and Emma Lawless took home the first victory finishing with a time of 1:31.33. The men's 200 free team of Cooper deRyk, Finn O'Haimhirgin, Santiago Contreras and Lucas Calderon followed up with a victory of their own touching first in 1:18.66, securing the Utes' second victory of the afternoon.
It was a dominate showing for both the men and women in the 50 free. Once again it was Casarin for the women who won the 50 free in 22.72 and deRyk on the men's side sharing the event title with Jonas Kistorp from Columbia University in 19.76.
On the boards, Tony Chen won the 1M dive scoring 340.05 as McDivitt finished second with a personal best 337.40. This score moved McDivitt into eighth all-time at Utah. For the women, Lexi Mills (303.25) and Holly Waxman (284.10) finished second and third, respectively, in the 3m dive.
On day two, the men's 200 medley team of Andrei Ungur, Andrew Britton, Cooper deRyk and Finn O'Haimhirgin swam hard to close out the victory in 1:24.47. Freshman Marko Kovacic won the 200 free in 1:35.61 and providing the men their third victory of the day was Andrei Ungur taking home the 100 back in 46.06.
The women of Utah started the final day of competion with a bang as Marlene Sandberg (16:36.45) and Taylor Kabacy (16:37.52) finished one-two in the 1650 free. Casarin captured the second victory of the day in the 100 free with a time of 49.30 and Charity Pittard kept the fun going by winning the 200 breast (2:12.53).
The men displayed their dominance in the 100 free with five swimmers placing in the top-10. Finn O'Haimhirgin and JP Hynes went stroke for stroke with Princeton's Max Walther, both just beating him out as O'Haimhirgin touched first (43.66) and Hynes right after in second (43.93). Utah secured the tournament victory with the A and B 400 free relay teams placing first and second in an intense finish. The B squad of Cooper Deryk, Andrei Ungur, Contreras and Calderon took the event title in 2:55.42 as the A team of Horner, Hynes, Kovacic and O'Haimhirgin finished second in 2:55.51.
In the diving well, freshman Ben Smyth set a DeNunzio pool record on the platform with a score of 398.95 and moved himself into second all-time.
NCAA B Times
Utah has a total of 12 swimmers that have recorded NCAA B cut times.
50 Free: Leyre Casarin (22.72), Cooper deRyk (19.51)
100 Free: Leyre Casarin (49.30), Finn O'Haimhirgin (43.48)
200 Free: Marko Kovacic (1:35.61)
1650 Free: Jackson Cunningham (15:24.62)
100 Back: Emma Lawless (53.88), Andrei Ungur (46.06), JP Hynes (47.17)
200 Back: Emma Lawless (1:56.25)
100 Breast: Jaek Horner (53.04)
200 Breast: Charity Pittard (2:12.53), Jaek Horner (1:57.02)
100 Fly: Emma Lawless (53.74), Ben Waterman (46.48), Cooper deRyk (47.43)
200 Fly: Ben Waterman (1:44.44)
200 IM: Ben Waterman (1:46.60)
200 Medley Relay Men: A squad: Andrei Ungur, Andrew Britton, Cooper deRyk, and Finn O'Haimhirgin (1:24.47)
Looking Ahead
Following the dual-meets in the desert, the Utah swimming program will host their first meets of 2022 Jan. 21st-22nd inside the Ute Natatorium. First, the women will go up against Washington State on Friday at 5 pm. On Saturday, Utah will host a tri-meet with Denver and Colorado Mesa. The start time of this meet is still TBD.
Follow the Utes!
For fans of the Utah men's/women's swimming and diving programs, follow the Utes on Twitter (@UTAHswimdive), Instagram (@utahswimdive) and Facebook (@UtahUtesSwimDive).