PROVO, Utah (Jan. 17, 2008) – In a match up that pinned the last two Mountain West Conference unbeaten women’s swim and dive teams, the BYU Cougars came out on top of the visiting Colorado State Rams Thursday night 158.5-136.5. The Cougars improve to 5-0 in conference competition as they handed the Rams their first MWC loss of the season. 

 

“The best thing we did tonight was win and our girls had some good races which made it all worth it,” BYU coach Stan Crump. “CSU has more depth than we have seen in the conference so far this year. They came at us with numbers and because of that I am sure we will have a good re-match at the conference championships.”

 

Natasha Menezes, Jamie Bloom, Rachel Grant and Aleesha Miller all recorded the fastest times in two races for the Cougars. Menezes dominated the distance freestyle events as she finished first in the 1000-yard free (10:19.95) and the 500 free (5:02.15). Menezes improved on her 500 free time from last week versus TCU with the finish she had against CSU.

 

Bloom was the first to touch the wall at both of the breaststroke distances, 200 and 100-yard. She finished one second off of her previous season best in the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.71. Then to compliment that, she also finished first in the 200 breast with a time of 2:22.63.

 

The Cougars have found two freshman who have been able to make an impact in Grant and Miller. Miller won both the sprint freestyle distances against the Rams with times of 23.82 and 52.48 in the 50 and 100 free, respectively, while Grant has excelled in the 200 fly (2:02.01) and the 200 IM (2:05.16) as she touched the wall first in those two races in the CSU meet.

 

BYU also had its athletes score the highest from off the diving boards too against the Rams.

 

“Overall we did really well,” BYU dive coach Keith Russell said. “Each diver is making improvements in where they are at in their individual skill level. It is great for our progression as we keep getting a little better with each meet.”

 

The Cougar divers split the highest-score honors between sophomores Ava Jackman and Tawni Jones. Jackman had the highest scoring dive from the 3-meter board as she was awarded a score of 282.30, while Jones took the first-place honors on the 1-meter board with a score of 301.05 – a new BYU season-best mark.

 

BYU will next be in action at Air Force on Jan. 24 at 6 p.m.