BYU split a pair of meets against UNLV on Saturday.
BYU Press Release
LAS VEGAS, Nevada– Nathan Rogers and Shawn Western took first in several events and aided the BYU men's swim and dive team to top UNLV 181-115. The women’s team were just shy of the win with a 140-160 loss on Saturday in Las Vegas.
"The men had a great win today," said head BYU coach John Brooks. "The women lost in many close races, but they put up a good fight, even if it was a tough loss. Tiare Coker, Ellie Thornbrue and Vanessa Moffatt did an outstanding job, along with Nathan Rogers, Shawn Western, Payton Sorenson and Preston Jenkins. Overall, we had a well-fought meet on the men's side and we were simply out-touched on the women's side.
Rogers and Western both claimed their first two wins of the season. In the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, Rogers finished in a time of 2:06.79 and just eight events later, he posted a time of 4:06.63 in the men’s 400-yard individual meter. Western, a junior from Holladay, Utah, won with a time of 9:46.10 in the men’s 1000-yard freestyle and towards the end of the meet, he took his second win in the men’s 500-yard freestyle (4:41.77).
The men’s 200-yard medley relay team took first in the second event of the meet, posting a time of 1:31.83. Jenkins created a solid lead for the team (23.35) while teammates Cameron Lindsay (26.69) and Rainer Ng (22.34) assisted in keeping the lead. Sorenson sealed the finish for the team in 19.45.
Sorenson has continued his trend in taking first in the men’s 50-freestyle. He acheived a time of 19.95, an improvement since his last meet against ASU (20.18). Jenkins also won in two other events throughout the day, including the men’s 100-yard backstroke (50.13) and the men’s 200-yard backstroke (1:49.27). Lindsay took second place in the same event, posting a time of 1:52.68.
In the women’s 200-yard medley relay, Ashlee Spindler, Hanna Skaggs, Ellie Thornbrue and Mariah Lindsay worked in synch to win the first event of the meet (1:46.09). A separate team consisting of Lauren Taylor, Thornbrue, Natalie Bennion and Tiare Coker, took first in the 400-yard free relay for the last women’s event of the meet with a time of 3:29.95.
Coker contributed two additional wins of the day in the women’s 100-yard freestyle (51.86) and butterfly (56.51). She also took second place in the 50-yar freestyle, posting a time of 24.17. Vanessa Moffatt helped add to the women’s team score with her win in the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.37).
“The men’s team dominated, taking first, second and third on both boards and a lifetime best out of Kevin Dreesen and Matt Denkers on the 3-meter,” said BYU diving coach Tyce Rouston. “Denkers has continually been working hard and improving every meet this year and has the most wins of anyone on the team this season. The women’s team continues to improve consistency and adding points for season bests. Keyka (Erica) Lienhard finished the highest on the team on both boards with third and fifth place finishes. Kaitlyn Abernathy had her ‘season best’ as a freshman.”
Dreesen took first in both the 3-meter and 1-meter events. He competed for his personal best with scores of 419.40 and 311.40, respectively. Following in second place on the 3-meter was teammate Denkers, who scored 367.50). Eric Muir, a freshman from Arizona took second place in the 1-meter with a final score of 295.88. Trayten Speth took third place on both events, scoring 263.78 in the 1-meter and 285 in the 3-meter.
In the women’s 1-meter diving, UNLV claimed the first two places and Lienhard took third with 226.05. Lienhard also took fifth in the 3-meter (231.98) and was closely followed by teammates Abernathy (231.68) and Morgan Mellow (231.60).
The men’s and women’s dive teams will travel to Georgia for an invitational scheduled for Nov.17-19. The opening day will begin at 10 a.m. EST. The men’s and women’s swim teams will compete next on Dec. 1-3 at the Texas Invite and the Mesa State Invite.
UNLV Press Release
Competiting in its second dual meet in under 24 hours, the UNLV swimming and diving team split its competition against the BYU Cougars, as the Rebel women won their first meet of the year by a 160-140 score, while the UNLV men suffered an 181-115 loss on Saturday from Buchanan Natatorium.
"The women really stepped up today for us," said UNLV head coach Ben Loorz. "What we lacked in depth, we made up for in great finishes from our top-end swimmers. Ida, Kristina, Kyndall, and all the others that really shined in getting the individual wins today. Our divers also performed well this weekend, we got a zone cuts on the boards, and it was just a great team effort.
"Our men swam better then yesterday against Utah, but BYU is a team where its weaknesses are not where we are strong enough to take advantage. Overall we won some events, had a nice sub-three minute 400 free relay. It was a good meet with the energy from the team and the crowd. Coach Reitz always had a saying, to WECR, Win Every Close Race. We really did that today to, was nice to carry on that Rebel tradition."
The women would actually win 11 of the 16 events on the day, with four Rebels all claiming two wins each, Sophia Carnevale, Kyndal Phillips, Mayte Cano and Ida Schutt. Cano was the first Rebel to win a race on Saturday, taking the 1000 free in a time of 10:24.32 while teammate Kelsey Wuoti was second in 10:28.21. That was the first of four straight wins for UNLV, as Schutt followed in the 200 free (1:52.27), Phillips in the 100 back (56.91) and Hendrick in the 100 breast (1:04.10). Carnevale's first win on the day was in the 50 free in 24.06, while Alyssa Arnett took first on the 1-meter event with a score of 270.68. She was followed in second by Myka Fielding (245.93), and the two would reverse positions in the 3-meter event, with Fielding winning in a score of 316.05 and Arnett taking second (279.83).
Phillips posted her second win in the 200 back in 2:03.63, while Carnevale posted her second victory in the 200 breast (2:19.29). Cano took the 500 free (5:04.74), and Schutt won the women's final individual race, the 400 IM, in 4:26.86.
Tom Paco-Pedroni won two events for the second straight day, beginning with the 200 free (1:38.68), while he also placed first in the 100 free in 44.62. Other wins for the Rebels in the men's competition came from Francois Van Wynsberghe in the 100 breast (58.30), Avi Cohen in the 200 fly (1:50.84), and the 400 free relay where the team of Paco-Pedroni, Or Sabatier, Rob GIlchrist and Kasey Foley touched the wall in 2:59.47.
The Rebels will be back in action in two weeks when they take a select squad to the Mizzou Invite in Columbia, Mo., on Nov. 17-19.
