The BYU men's and women's swimming and diving teams opened conference competition Friday night with a win against UNLV in the Richards Building Pool. The women led the Rebels the entire night, finishing 141-102. The men were down 105-101 prior to the final two races, but pulled out a 132-109 win after finishing first and second in the final 400 freestyle relay and adding 16 points on the diving boards. The MWC season-opening triumph extends the men's record to 6-0 on the scored season.

"The night was everything I thought it would be," said BYU men's swimming coach Tim Powers after the win. "A knock-down, drag-out, great competition. It's nice to get away with a win on that."

The Cougars were led by this week's MWC Swimmer of the Week, junior Brett Allen, taking first in the 50 free at 20.37 and in the 100 free at 45.16. Allen also joined junior Jorge Azevedo, and seniors Grant Hasselbach and Nicholas Tobler for a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay.

Sophomore Travis Price also contributed to the Cougar victory, finishing first in the 200 free at 1:41.49, followed closely by freshman teammate Christian Keil in second and sophomore David Fellingham in third. Freshman John Kendrick pulled out strong second-place finishes in the 500 and 1000 at 4:39.91 and 9:32.39, respectively. Tobler and senior Ben McKee added additional points for the Cougars towards the end taking second and third, respectively, in the 200 breast.

Sophomore diver Ron Morris and freshman Austin Barrand also helped tip the score for the Cougars on the boards. Morris came out on top on the 3 meter at 280.95 and finished second with a score of 279.68 behind Barrand's 282.68 on the 1 meter.

Women's swimming coach Stan Crump told his girls if they won the first relay they would scare the Rebels out. Following coach's orders, junior Brittany Davis, sophomores Jamie Bloom and Angela Goodson and freshman Leilani Roberts took the 400 medley relay at 3:51.90 to jump-start the night. Davis and Roberts continued their hot streaks taking first in both of their subsequent events. Roberts finished the 50 free at 24.19, just .15 seconds ahead of second place, and the 100 free at 51.54. Davis took the 200 free in 1:54.83 and the 500 in 5:08.50. Relay teammate Bloom also took a first in the 200 breast at 2:21.22. Senior Natasha Jones added nine points with an upset in the 200 back in 2:04.38 and U-Nice Chan touched at 2:06.59 in the 200 butterfly to make eight first-place finishes for the Cougars.

Sophomore diver Kristin Pitt added additional points for the Cougars on the boards, scoring 253.28 on the 1-meter for a first-place finish. Sophomore Angela Nelson followed Pitt with a 228.15 and a third-place finish. Junior Melinda Jones finished third on the 3 meter, followed by Pitt and Nelson in fourth and fifth, respectively.

The women will take to the pool again Saturday at noon, hosting SDSU at the Richards Building Pool.