Florida Gulf Coast
The No. 23 FGCU swimming & diving team improved its dual-meet record to 4-0 with a pair of wins at the Ute Natatorium on Friday evening. The Green and Blue defeated No. 35 Boise State by a score of 159-140, while taking down host and No. 44 Utah 165-135.
"The girls showed their class tonight," said FGCU head coach Neal Studd. "This was a tough cross-country trip and it was hard to compete at 4,500-feet above sea level. They fought hard and won what can only be described as an ugly, tough road win. I'm very proud of them."
The Eagles earned wins over the Utes and Broncos in eight of 16 events Friday night, while junior diver Ashely Wright (Port Saint Lucie, Fla./Lincoln Park Academy/Indian River) turned in a pair of season-best efforts in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives.
Freshman Elise Haan (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast HS), who was named the CCSA Women's Swimmer of the Week after her performance against Notre Dame last weekend, continued an undefeated start to her collegiate career as she earned wins in both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes in times of 54.70 seconds and 2:02.39, respectively.
Fellow freshman Katie Latham (Deal, Kent, United Kingdom/Sir Roger Manwood's School) also earned a pair of wins in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles. She touched the pads in 23.87 seconds in the short event and 52.00 seconds in the long event. Teammate Sara Hamitlon (Stonehaven, Scotland/Mackie Academy) finished just behind Latham in the event in a time of 52.16 seconds.
The Green and Blue also finished first and second in the 200-yard butterfly as Christina Kaas Elmgreen (Charlottenlund, Denmark/Ordrup Gymnasium) and Yee Ching Wong (Hong Kong, China/Diocesan Girls' School) clocked times of 2:04.53 and 2:05.23, respectively.
Additionally, Lani Cabrera (Bridgetown, Barbados/St. Ursala's Secondary School), who recorded a personal best in the 1,000-yard freestyle a week ago, improved her record in the event to a perfect 4-0 on the season as she won the race in a time of 10:16.92, nearly eight seconds clear of the field.
Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey) also continued her perfect record in the 100-yard breaststroke as she notched her fifth win of the season in the event in a time of 1:03.85. The sophomore standout also finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke after touching the pads in 2:21.44.
Barbara Caraballo (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Newsome HS/Indian River) continued to swim well in the 200-yard IM as she won the race for the second consecutive weekend in a time of 2:05.56.
Lastly, the Eagles' 400-yard freestyle quartet of Latham, Hamilton, Hannah Burdge (Stuart, Fla./Martin County HS) and Haan placed second in the event behind Boise State after touching the pads in 3:29.69.
Wright highlighted the Eagles' diving efforts as she finished second in the 1-meter diving and third in the 3-meter diving with scores of 272.33 and 272.55, respectively.
Following their dual meet victories in Salt Lake City, the Green and Blue will remain on the road for a two-day tri-meet against FSU and Florida Southern on Friday, November 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7.
Boise State
Boise State split Friday evening’s tri-meet in Salt Lake City, defeating host Utah, 158-141, but falling to Florida Gulf Coast, 159-140.
The Broncos finish the weekend in Utah Saturday at noon, visiting BYU for a dual meet in Provo.
The Broncos were victorious in five of the 16 events Friday night, including a sweep of both relays (200 medley and 400 free). Sophomore Emma Chard had a standout night, earning individual wins in the 200 and 500 frees and being part of the top 400 free-relay foursome along with Brittany Aoyama, Cody Evans and Felicity Cann.
Aoyama also picked up three wins, grabbing the third individual win for the Broncos, touching the wall in 55.40 to capture the 100 fly, and being part of both victorious relays.
On the diving boards, sophomore Kacee Olson finished in the top three of both events, scoring a 272.60 to finish second on 3-meter and a 262.30 for third on the 1-meter board.
The quartet of Aoyama, Sam Wicks, Laura Williams and Katelyn Martin captured the first swimming event of the night, the 200 medley relay, in 1:42.82.
Two events later, Chard picked up her first win of the night, clocking 1:50.32 to edge out Cann by 0.14 of a second for first. Evans would take fifth in 1:54.32. The pair would finish 1-2 in the 500 free as well, with Chard’s time of 5:00.40 bettering Cann by 0.83 of a second.
They, along with Aoyama and Evans, would touch the wall in 3:26.15 to capture the 400 free relay in the final event of the night.
Aoyama also finished second in the 50 free, clocking 23.95 with Martin in third behind her at 24.10. Sam Wicks turned in top-three finishes in the 100 back (second, 55.31) and 100 free (third, 52.21).
Blake Balogh and Amelia Draney took third and fourth, respectively, in the 1,000 free, with Balogh turning in a time of 10:31.43 and Draney touching in 10:33.50. Williams turned in a fourth-place effort in the 100 breast, clocking a time of 1:05.50.
Utah
The University of Utah women’s swimming and diving team was topped by Florida Gulf Coast (165-135) and Boise State (158-141) this evening in the Ute Natatorium.
“This was a very competitive meet between all three teams,” Utah head coach Joe Dykstra said. “I really enjoyed the fact that there were a lot of close races which is going to help us a lot down the road. We were without, arguably, without our best two swimmers due to illness and injury today; Maddie Meisel and Stina Colleou. To be as competitive as we were without out two of our most important swimmers, I feel good about it. We had some times today that were better than what we had in California. I feel like we are on a good path.”
In the 200 breast, Genevieve Robertson took first with a time of 2:16.63. Following in second was Brianna Francis (2:19.15) with Julienne Tadena in sixth (2:25.95). Robertson was also just shy of first place in the 100 breast taking second with a time of 1:04.20. Sydney Bull took fifth (1:06.20) and Darby Wayner took seventh (1:07.03).
In diving, Amanda Casillas took first in both events. In the one-meter, she tallied a total score of 290.85 and in the three-meter, 287.00.
The Utes took second in five events for the evening. Jordan Anderson touched in at 10:24.76 in the 1,000 free with Kat Wickham in fifth (10:36.36), Paolina Carnevale in eighth (10:53.64), Maddie Velez in tenth (11:11.50) and Maudee Miner in eleventh (11:14.40).
Megan Kawaguchi was the runner-up in the 200 back in 2:06.60. Hailey Pabst finished sixth (2:08.19) with Shayla Archer in tenth (2:11.37) in the event.
In the 100 fly, Jenna Marsh just missed the top-spot by touching in at 56.19. Petra Soininen took fifth (57.45), Bull ninth (59.55), Ashlyn Karosas tying for eleventh (1:00.10) and Alex Stein taking 13th (1:01.37).
Adding to the tally, Francis just missed capturing the 200 IM (2:06.33). Wayner took seventh (2:11.19) with Anderson and Isabella Kearns tying for eighth (2:11.75).
Anderson just missed second-place in the 500 free by touching in at 5:03.27. Wickham finished sixth (5:08.18) with Maryssa McArthur (5:22.86) and Maddie Velez (5:31.08) finishing tenth and eleventh.
To start the meet, the Utes took second in the 200 medley relay as the team of Archer, Robertson, Marsh and Gillian St.John touched in at 1:44.20. Following in third was a quartet of Kawaguchi, Wayner, Soininen and Rhianna Williams (1:45.36). Karosas, Bull, Stein and Tadena were fifth (1:48.18).
To finish out the meet, the 400 free relay team of Butter, Marsh, St.John and Anderson took third with a time of 3:32.62. Williams, Pabst, McArthur and Tadena took seventh (3:37.84) with Karosas, Wikcham, Kawaguchi and Archer in eighth (3:44.55).
The women’s squad will host UC Davis next weekend on Nov. 6 at 4 p.m. MT while the men’s squad will host UNLV the following day at 11 a.m. MT.
