Day One in Princeton Yields Four First-Place Finishes for Swim & Dive
PRINCETON, N.J. – The University of Utah swimming and diving team collected four first-place finishes and added six new entries to the program record book during day one of the Big Al Invitational, which was held on Friday at the DeNunzio Pool.
"It was kind of a rough morning," said coach Jonas Persson, "with some races with a lot of nerves, but we recovered well in the afternoon. We put together some great races with great attitudes. I'm happy with today but definitely know we have a lot more in the tank tomorrow."
In The Pool
The Utes got the day off to a solid start thanks to the quartet of Reagan Cathcart, Erin Palmer, Maddy Woznick and Katie Hale, who combined to finish the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.20, good enough for second. The team's first new record book entry came courtesy of Evan VanBrocklin in the 500 free and his time of 4:23.06, which goes down as sixth-best all-time at Utah.
In the 200 individual medley, the top two places belonged to Utes, as Summer Stanfield grabbed the top spot in 2:00.54 and Charity Pittard was right behind her, touching in 2:00.55. In the men's 200 medley, Jaek Horner, swam into second place with a mark of 1:45.08, which also goes down as the program's second-best time in that race. It also surpassed the NCAA Championship B standard. Baylor Lewis carved out a spot in the 200 IM top 10 as well, landing in eighth by reaching the finish in 1:47.84.
Palmer logged another top three finish for the Utes by snagging third in the women's 50 free and Finn O'Haimhirgin took home first place in the men's 50 free by clocking in at 19.69, which puts him eighth in Utah's all-time top 10 and counts for another NCAA Championship B mark. Right behind O'Haimhirgin in second was Andrei Ungur at 20.09.
Utah's night in the pool finished with two more excellent showings, first by Norah Hay, Hilja Schimmel, Stanfield and Palmer in the women's 400 medley relay, where their combined efforts earned them second-place. Ungur, Horner, O'Haimhirgin and Marko Kovacic then grabbed first place for the Utes in the men's 400 medley relay, posting a time of 3:07.50. Swimming on a different 400 medley relay team for Utah was Parker McOmber and his 100 back time of 47.90 put him sixth all-time in that event.
"It's a great meet to gain experience, learn and take steps to get better," said Persson, "and we are well on our way to achieving that."
On The Boards
Holly Waxman had a banner day on the boards that began with her logging a personal-best of 315.90 in the prelims. She was even better in the final, recording a score of 324.75, which also goes down as fifth-best in school history and was good enough for first place. Two spots behind her was Lexi Mills, who piled up 288.05 points and Kathryn Grant landed in fourth with a mark of 277.90. The performances of Waxman and Mills both reached the NCAA Championships qualifying standard.
Utah's top score in the men's 1m belonged to Jenner Pennock, whose point total of 310.30 was good enough for third place, narrowly ahead of teammate Ben Smyth, who graded out at 310.05. Luke McDivitt placed fifth with a score of 308.75 and all three marks go down as NCAA zone scores.
"Today was the type of day I was expecting to see from the team," said coach Richard Marschner. "We've put in the work and we're now in a spot where we see it all coming together. Holly put together two great lists, setting a new personal-best in prelims and finals. Lexi and Kathryn had a good meet and going 1-3-4 is very impressive.
"All the guys had a great 1m event, which is encouraging because it's probably our weakest event for the guys. The men's team event was very exciting and we came out on top. Luke led us off with probably the best armstand he's done in competition and we never looked back."
Looking Ahead
The second day of competition takes place on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. and the 200 medley relay is the first event on the docket.
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