Horner’s Record Swim Highlights Swim & Dive’s Second Day in Princeton
PRINCETON, N.J. – Senior swimmer Jaek Horner set a new program record in the 100 breaststroke and the University of Utah swimming and diving team racked up five first-place finishes on Saturday during day two of the Big Al Invitational at the DeNunzio Pool.
"We did a nice job today," said coach Jonas Persson. "Our morning preliminary session was decent at best, but we really turned it around this afternoon. Jaek Horner and Andrei Ungur stood out with some times that will most likely qualify for NCAA's and our seniors and captains stepped up with great swims. Overall, I'm really happy with the afternoon session. Great swims overall and we have a lot of momentum for tomorrow."
In The Pool
Horner's performance was the first program record the Utah swimmers have set during the 2022-23 season and also counts as an NCAA Championships B Qualifying score. The native of Waimanalo, Hawaii finished the race in 51.88 in prelims before his time of 51.89 earned him first place in the final. The record tops the previous best of 52.69, which Horner set at the 2022 Pac-12 Championships.
The Utes put together four more first-place showings before the day was done, starting with the men's 200 medley relay squad of Horner, JP Hynes, Andrei Ungur and Finn O'Haimhirgin, as they reached the finish in 1:24.58 for what was Utah's first triumph of the day.
The team's initial individual first-place finish came courtesy of Summer Stanfield in the women's 400 individual medley, as she bested the field by clocking at 4:13.06, also good enough for second-best in program history and to make the NCAA Qualifying B list.
The next Ute to top the podium was Hilja Schimmel in the women's 100 breaststroke, touching the wall in 1:01.69, allowing her to slide into fifth-place in the Utah record book in that event. Finally, it was Andrei Ungur in the men's 100 backstroke out-swimming the competition with a time of 45.27 and he was followed by JP Hynes in second at 46.95 and Parker McOmber's mark of 47.57 placed him fifth. All four of these times met the NCAA's B Qualifying standard, whiles Hynes' goes down as fourth-best in the school record book and McOmber slides into sixth.
Among the other new additions to the team record book were two times from Evan VanBrocklin. The freshman completed the men's 400 IM in 3.49.31, an NCAA B mark that put him fifth-best all-time, and his effort in the 200 free as part of Utah's 800 free relay team earned him a mark of 1:36.83 and the No. 10 spot on the leaderboard.
Ungur's 47.36 in prelims in the 100 butterfly will go down as the eighth-best time ever by a Ute and Brandon Miller put himself 10th in 400 IM, as he reached the finish in 3:51.73.
On The Boards
The men's 3m and women's 1m finals were held on Saturday and Holly Waxman and Kathryn Grant each logged new personal bests in the latter event. Waxman only just missed out on first place with a point total of 307.30, the second-highest mark ever by a Ute in that event. Grant's mark of 291.10 placed her third in the competition and goes down as eighth-best in program history.
In the men's 3m, Jenner Pennock posted Utah's highest point total in the finals at 332.05 to take fourth, while Ben Smyth's 328.55 earned him fifth and Luke McDivitt took sixth, grading out at 327.80. The performances of all five Utah divers on Saturday reached the NCAA Championships qualifying standard.
"We had another really strong day," said diving coach Richard Marschner, "and I'm thrilled to see our hard work paying off. Holly narrowly missed out on another victory but she did a really nice 305c in finals to put the pressure on and nearly pulled it off. It was the first time for her completing that dive, so I couldn't be happier with how it went. Both her and Kathryn set new PBs and Holly is now sitting at No. 2 all-time, just slightly below the school record.
"The 3m event was very steady and we ended up with solid placings. I'm most happy that if we make a mistake, we're making mistakes for the right reasons trying to do things the right way technically."
The day's festivities also included a team event for the divers and Utah emerged victorious. Waxman and Grant were joined by Lexi Mills and that trio piled up 308 points to collect first place, besting squads from Princeton, George Washington, Denver and CSU-Bakersfield.
"The team event was fabulous," said Marschner. "It gave the swimmers a chance to cheer and support our women and Lexi, Holly and Kathryn put on a show to dominate the field."
Looking Ahead
The Big Al Invitational concludes on Sunday and the prelims in the women's 200 backstroke, scheduled for 8 a.m., will get the day started.
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