The Hawaii women accumulated a four-day total of 747 points, comfortably ahead of second-place UC Davis' 632, at the 2015 MPSF Championship Meet at East LA College. It is the first-ever MPSF Women's Swim & Dive title for UH. Jasmine Alkhaldi was named MPSF Swimmer of the Meet after breaking three meet records over the four days (50 free-22.49, 100 free-48.87, and 200 free-1.46.70). She and UCSB's Katie Records tallied 60 individual points apiece for their teams. In all, five women's MPSF Championship records were broken, as Pacific's Margaux Verger Gourson accounted for the other two (500 free-4.44.13; 1650 free-16:10.41).
On the men's side, BYU defends its title and wins its third overall out of the five contested, tallying 830.5 points. The Cougars placed ahead of runner-up UCSB (774.5). BYU's Jake Taylor was the MPSF Swimmer of the Meet by virtue of taking down the MPSF 100 and 200 backstroke records. His 45.53 time in the 100 was also an NCAA 'A' Cut and ELAC Facility record. All told for the men, four records were broken, when also factoring in Cal Poly's Jimmy Deiparine in the 100 breast and UCSB's Wade Allen in the 50 free.
Final Women's Standings
1. University of Hawaii 747
2. University of California, Davis 632
3. UC Santa Barbara 585.5
4. Brigham Young University 471.5
5. University of the Pacific 429
6. University of San Diego 362
7. Cal Poly 288
Final Men's Standings
1. Brigham Young University 830.5
2. UC Santa Barbara 774.5
3. University of Hawaii 721
4. Cal Poly 491
5. Pacific 358
MPSF Championship Meet Awards
Women:
Diver of the Meet: Aimee Harrison, Hawaii
Diving Coaches of the Meet: Mike Brown & Anita Rossing, Hawaii
Swimmer of the Meet: Jasmine Alkhaldi, Hawaii
Freshman of the Meet: Kira Webster, Hawaii
Swim Coach of the Meet: Victor Wales, Hawaii
Men:
Diver of the Meet: Amund Gismervik, Hawaii
Diving Coach of the Meet: Keith Russell, BYU
Swimmer of the Meet: Jake Taylor, BYU
Freshman of the Meet: Billy Mullis, UCSB
Swim Coach of the Meet: John Brooks, BYU
BYU
The BYU men’s swimming and diving team won their second-straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship with 830.5 points and the women finished fourth with 471.5.
“The guys pulled off a nice win and our girls improved each day," BYU swim head coach John Brooks said. "Our men did what they needed to do and it feels really good to win the conference again.”
On the men’s side, UC Santa Barbara finished in second with 774.5 points and Hawaii in third with 721. The Hawaii women won the championship with 747 points, followed by UC Davis with 632 and UC Santa Barbara with 585.5.
"I'm so proud of our women," Brooks said. "They did such a good job battling back after having a rough first day, and for them to almost finish in the top-three after that is great.
BYU head swim coach John Brooks and head dive coach Keith Russell were each named Coach of the Meet and junior captain Jake Taylor won the men’s Swimmer of the Meet award.
Taylor won the men’s 200 back, setting a new MPSF Championship meet record with a time of 1:41.15. Haley Bertoldo won the women’s 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:56.83 while Ciera Marsh Keller finished third in 1:59.92.
Junior Stephen Richards finished second in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke in 1:58.22.
Sophomore Riley Buer finished in fourth-place in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:16.73. In the men’s 200 breast Rafael Alfaro picked up a fifth-place finish, touching the wall in 2:00.48.
The Cougars picked up fifth-place times in both the men’s and women’s 200-yard butterfly with senior captain Hayden Palmer finishing in 1:48.49 and freshman Lillian Moore in 2:02.81.
Freshman Luis Ventura swam the men’s 1,650-yard freestyle fast enough to finish fifth with a time of 15:33.37, and McKay King earned a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in 44.97.
Taylor, Palmer, Alfaro and King combined to finish the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay in 2:57.17, fast enough for a third-place finish.
The divers will head to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to compete in the Zone E diving meet Mar. 9-11. Taylor is the only swimmer to qualify so far for the NCAA championships Mar. 26-28 in Iowa City, Iowa, with Palmer a possibilty to make it as well.
Pacific
For the second time in just three days, sophomore Margaux Verger Gourson came up with a record breaking swim as the second-year Tiger smashed the MPSF Championship mark en route to a title in the 1650 Free. The sophomore took home a pair of titles at the four-day championship event as she won the 500 Free with a record-setting time as well while finishing second in the 200 Free.
In the pool for the third time individually, Verger Gourson proved herself as the finest distance swimmer in the MPSF as the sophomore set a new MPSF Championship record with a dominating time of 16:10.41. No swimmer was within :20 seconds of Verger Gourson as her next closest competitor finished at 16:31.46. For Verger Gourson, the time posted in the 2015 championships shattered the previous tournament best of 16:25.57 set in 2011 by Lacey Buck. Additionally, Verger Gourson posted her second NCAA 'B' Cut worthy time after posting a program-record mark and 'B' Cut time of 16:09.06 earlier in the season.
In addition to her win in the 1650 Free, Verger Gourson helped the 400 Free Relay team take a third place finish as they team tallied a time of 3:22.91. Verger Gourson led the race off for the Tigers as she was followed by Kenna Ramey, Hayley Shillington, and Vaiva Gimbutyte. Gimbutyte came up with a sixth place finish in the 100 Free when she swam a time of 51.30. In the 200 Back, Haley Preston finished in fourth place with a time of 2:00.07 while Cristina Mardones finished in fifth in the 200 Breast after tallying a time of 2:16.74 that just missed Pacific's program record.
On the men's side, senior Brandon Chandler put a cap on a stellar week of swimming as he finished with the silver in the 1650 Free with a time of 15:27.46. Chandler's impressive swim gave him an NCAA 'B' Cut time as he will wait to see if he qualifies for the NCAA Championships later this year.
In the 200 Back Curtis Klein grabbed a fourth place finish with a season-best mark of 1:47.62. One event later, freshman Miles MacKenzie finished in fourth in the 100 Free with a season-best sprint of 44.84. Jonathan Pun added an eighth place mark in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:03.20 which was a team-best time in the event for the season.
The Tigers will wait to see who qualifies for the NCAA Championships later this season after a handful of Tigers posted 'B' Cut worthy times throughout the season.
