Men's Swim Hosts USC, Dive on the Road at Arizona
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah men's swimming will host USC on Saturday inside the Ute Natatorium for a Pac-12 showdown. The men's team will be looking to improve on an up and down season that last saw them fall to rival BYU on the road. The meet is set to start at 12:00pm MT and will be Utah's Pride themed meet.
The dive team will also be in action down in Tucson, Ariz., Friday and Saturday, against Arizona. A meet that was originally canceled due to COVID health and safety protocols back in early January, now sees the dive portion of the meet rescheduled. Both teams will use this meet as an opportunity to gain a feel for the boards and environment as the Pac-12 Diving Championships will be held at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center Feb, 11-12.
"Our meet versus Arizona is great tune-up for Pac-12's. I'm really appreciative of Dwight at Arizona for getting this meet rescheduled for diving because diving outdoors is significantly different than indoors," head diving coach Richard Marschner said. "We're looking forward to competing hard against a great team and to getting our bearings set for this venue for Pac-12's."
How to Follow
Ute fans can follow the action during both meets by following @UTAHswimdive on Twitter. Updates throughout the meet will be provided along with pictures of the action.
All Time Series
Utah has only managed to take down USC twice in the all-time series. However, the previous two times that the Trojan's visited Salt Lake, the Utes were victorious.
Last Time Out
It was a hard-fought battle the last time the men faced competition. The men's team of JP Hynes, Lex Hernandez-Nietling, Santiago Contreras and Lucas Calderon went stroke for stroke with BYU but came up just short finishing in third place (3:21.54) in the 400-medley relay.
The 100 back was equally close, with Andrei Ungur (49.87) and JP Hynes (49.93) placing second and third, right behind BYU's Diego Camacho who touched in 49.40.
On the dive side, they are coming off a very strong performance at the Air Force Diving Invite where three Utes moved up or into the all-time performances at Utah.
Lexi Mills (277.15) and Holly Waxman (253.10) made the biggest splash both earning new personal-bests on the platform to move them into fourth and fifth all-time, respectively. For the men, Jenner Pennock scored a new personal-best (333.45) that moved him into sixth all-time on the platform.
Looking Ahead
Championship season has finally arrived and the women's swim team along with the dive team compete first at the Pac-12 Championships Feb. 23-26. The women's swim team travels to Federal Way, Wash., while the dive team will head down south the Tucson for their conference championship.
The following weekend the men's team will be in action, also in Federal Way, Wash., March 2-5.
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).