Two 200 free relay wins, a 200 IM sweep and a 50 free win combined for an exciting evening for the BYU swim teams and a great finish to day two of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships.
“Our guys are sitting in a great spot right now and our women did a great job based off a so-so morning (preliminaries),” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “We had some great relay wins tonight and hopefully we can build off that and come ready for tomorrow.”
Both the men’s and women’s relay teams won the 200 free relay in an exciting end to the day’s events. The men’s team of Jordan Fletcher, Andrew Rutherfurd, McKay King and Jake Taylor contributed to the win with a time of 1:19.91.
The women’s team of Alexandria Sorensen, Andrea Grant, Kimberly Doroghian and Hailey Campbell beat Hawaii and Pacific for the win, in 1:32.15.
Sophomore Taylor, and juniors Rafael Alfaro and Hayden Palmer swept the men’s 200 IM. Taylor broke a school record for the event that he previously held, with a time of 1:44.96. Alfaro finished in second in 1:45.48 and Palmer in third in 1:48.55. The sweep extended the men’s first-place lead over Hawaii.
Fletcher dominated the men’s 50 free sprint event with a time of 20.17 to beat out two opponents from Hawaii.
In the men’s 500 free, Stott Bushnell recorded a second-place finish with a time of 4:27.09.
Sorensen was the top women’s finalist of the night. She took seventh place in a very close race in the women’s 50 free, finishing just under a second behind first place with a time of 23.44
“I’m excited to see Lucas Aquino swim in the 100 fly tomorrow,” Brooks said. “He’s ranked No. 1 right now in the 200 fly.”
Tomorrow morning, preliminaries will begin at 10:30 a.m. PST with the men’s and women’s 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 back. Finals will begin at 6 p.m. PST.
BYU Men
Junior Nicholas Suder put in work off the 1-meter board to maintain his title as the MPSF champion, scoring a total 346.40 points. Raleigh Williams Taylor was the top women’s finalist, finishing third with a total 302.55 points.
“It was a good day for us in the diving pool,” BYU head diving coach Keith Russell said. “It was nice to score the points that we did. Nic, Matt and Raleigh exceeded our expectations and scored higher today than they ever have before.”
Men’s diver Matt Hopper finished with 305.35 points for third place with Bryce Farabee and Edward Young following right behind in fourth (291.95) and fifth place (281.25).
For the women, Mackenzie Rands finished in fifth with 235.30 points for the Cougars.
“Tomorrow is going to be a little tougher because we’re typically a little stronger on 1-meter, but we’ll go for it and I think we’ll have a chance to do well. Hopefully the chips will fall where we want them to.”
Suder will attempt to keep his title as the 3-meter MPSF Champion on Friday. Both the men’s and women’s diving teams will compete in the 3-meter competitions beginning at 11 a.m. PST.
Pacific
Throughout the second day of competition at the MPSF Championships, the Pacific swim team put up solid times en route to establishing both school records and NCAA "B" Cut times. The finals for the night saw the teams take on the 500 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, as well as the 200 Free relay.
A day after the men dominated the results for the Tigers it was the women who took center stage on Thursday, Feb. 20. Kicking off the night for the Tigers, freshman Margaux Verger Gourson posted the fastest time in school history in the 500 Free as she touched the wall in a time of 4:47.23. Her time beat the previous record set in 2005 by Jennifer Radecke by a full second and qualified the first-year Tiger for an NCAA "B" cut time.
Behind Verger Gourson, sophomore Cristina Mardones came up with one of the top times for the night in the 200 IM when she posted a time of 2:02.28. The time put Mardones in the range of the NCAA "B" cut as well.
The teams are back in the pool in the morning of Friday, Feb. 21, with qualifying swims in the 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, and the 400 Medley Relay.
