The Utah men’s and women’s swimming teams split with Arizona State as the No. 24-ranked Ute men’s squad won 174.5-119.5, but the women fell 191-108 Friday afternoon at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.
The men’s team improved to 7-0 overall on the season and 2-0 in Pac-12 meets after recording nine first-place and six second-place finishes. The women’s team managed to tally four first-place finishes, but fell to 3-5 overall and 0-4 in 0-4 in Pac-12 competitions.
“This was an interesting competition here today with both teams swimming very tired,” said Utah head coach Joe Dykstra. “I am proud of the way that a lot of people on our team stepped up. We swam shorthanded on our men’s side, but still managed to get the job done. We one enough races and performed at a high enough level to get the job done and remain undefeated on the season.”
“On the women’s side, despite some very good individual performances, we really go humbled as a team today. We need to take this lesson and get back to work. We are not good enough right now and we need to do a better job in training and preparation before we see ASU again in the Pac-12 [Championships]. Hopefully we can give them more of a challenge at that meet.”
The Utah men opened the day with a win in the 200 medley relay as the team of Ben Scott, Jack Burton, Alex Fernandes and Nick Sodel tapping in first-place with a time of 1:30.34. Soedel would later go on to win both the 50 free (19.87) and 100 free (43.58) events, while Fernandes took top honors in the 100 fly (48.59), picked up a second-place finish in the 50 free (20.74) and also helped lead the 400 free relay squad to a first-place finish as well. The squad consisted of Soedel, Alex Brown and David Fraser and they tapped in with a time of 3:02.50.
Bence Kiraly, who is coming off a great month of December where he was tabbed the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month, took first in all three of his events on Friday, taking top honors in the 200 free (1:37.60) and 500 free (4:31.36), while recording a season-best and winning the 200 individual medley event (1:50.28). Teammate Nolan Rogers followed in second-place in the 200 IM, finishing in a time of 1:53.18.
Brandon Shreeve earned Utah’s final first-place finish after taking first overall in the 1000 free (9:25.89). Second-place finishers on the men’s side included Ben Scott in the 100 back (51.31), Chris Taber in the 200 fly (1:51.68), Evan Indahl in the 200 back (1:52.48) and Ganem Tebet in the 200 breast (2:05.39).
Maddie Jamora picked up Utah’s first win on the women’s side after taking first-place in the 50 free (23.34). Amanda Barrett later won the 200 back (2:02.41) and then placed second overall in the 200 IM (2:09.02).
Rounding out Utah’s victories for the women was Maddie Meisel taking first-place in the 500 free (4:56.53) and Melissa Paakh winning the 100 fly (56.64). Meisel would swim a season-best while taking second in the 1000 free (10:05.03), while Stina Colleou had a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 breast (1:03.64) and 200 breast (2:15.38).
Megan Kawaguchi finished in second-place in the 100 back (57.21) and Petra Soininen took second overall in the 200 fly (2:03.86). Soininen would also take second-place overall right behind Paakh in the 100 fly (56.77).
On the diving side, Amanda Casillas (274.20), Jasmine Matkovic (252.45) and Lauren Hall (182.25) each recorded personal bests in the platform on Friday. Casillas took second-place in the event, while Matkovic and Hall followed in third and fourth-place, respectively. Casillas would later finish in third-place in the one-meter (279.53), while Hall (258.60) placed fourth overall and Matkovic (240.08) finished in fifth-place.
Jacob Crayne took first-place in both events, winning the platform (379.88) with a personal best score and taking first in the one-meter (355.35) as well.
“We had a great day today, with Jake, Amanda and Jasmine all setting personal-bests on the tower,” said head diving coach Richard Marschner. “Lauren and Amanda set personal bests in the one-meter as well, so overall it was a great way to start our second semester as we work towards Pac-12 and NCAA [Championships].”
“I am really proud of the way the divers competed today,” Dykstra noted. “It is not every day that you compete outside and on a breezy day, they did a phenomenal job.”
Both men’s and women’s swimming teams will have a few weeks off before jumping back into the pool on Jan. 23 in a home meet against Denver. Meanwhile, the diving teams will head to Los Angeles, Calif., next Friday to compete in the UCLA Diving Invitational that will take place at the Splecker Aquatics Center.
