BYU vs Denver
- January 18, 2025
- Provo, Utah
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: BYU Athletics
PROVO, Utah — BYU women’s swimming held off Denver in a thrilling 158-142 dual meet win over the Pioneers on Senior Day at the Richards Building Pool on Saturday.
“We knew it was going to be a close meet,” said BYU head swim and dive coach Tamber McAllister. “Denver has a fantastic team, so it was all going to depend on who showed up today.”
The Cougars clung to a 135-129 lead heading into the final two events of the day and answered the bell with wins in both 200 individual medley and 400 free relay.
Lucy Warnick edged Denver’s Mina Solaker by 0.11 seconds to win the 200 IM and preserve the Cougars’ narrow lead with nine more points. BYU then put the meet away with it’s “A” and “B” relay squads finishing first and third, respectively. Haylee Tiffany, Emma Marusakova, Lily Flint and Halli Williams combined to take the “A” squad to a winning time of 3:21.52.
“It’s been a while since our women had a meet that came down to the last relay, so I challenged the girls to step it up and they did a fantastic job,” McAllister said.
The BYU women book-ended the day with relay success as the 200 medley relay “A” squad of Marusakova, Mackenzie Miller Lung, Sarah Eliason and Williams opened the meet with a pool-record 1:39.56.
Miller Lung and Williams led the Cougars with 18 points a-piece on Saturday.
Miller Lung racked up two more breaststroke victories with a sweep of both 100 and 200-yard races. At a personal-best 1:00.28 in the 100 breast, Miller Lung broke her own pool record and drew within 0.28 seconds of toppling Katie McBratney’s school record set in 2021. With two wins on Saturday, Miller Lung now has 10 for the season.
Williams took care of the sprints for the Cougars with a 22.93 to win the 50 free and 50.90 to take the 100.
Marusakova and Eliason each won races to give BYU seven for the day. Marusakova clocked a season-best 54.79 to win the 100 back while Eliason went 54.72 to take the 100 fly. Between Eliason and Warnick, the Cougars have two freshmen with a combined 10 race victories this season.
With BYU and Denver’s dive teams both competing at the Cal Diving Invitational this weekend, the compiled Cougar-Pioneer diving scores contributed to the dual meet final in Provo as well.
Alexia Jackson Hansen and Brooklyn Larson Clouse went one-two on 1-meter and were the only divers between the two teams to surpass 250 points. Jackson Hansen and Sophia DeBergh controlled the top two spots in the 3-meter event to further bolster BYU’s team score. Jackson Hansen scored nearly 50 more points than the Pioneers’ high scorer with a final of 270.95.
Cougar swim and dive next takes to the road for a dual meet at Air Force Jan. 24-25 at Cadet Natatorium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
PROVO, Utah — Darwin Anderson and Tanner Nelson each broke their own pool records as BYU men’s swimming defended the Richards Building Pool with a 193-107 dual meet defeat of Denver on Saturday afternoon.
“We’re super happy with how the team turned out today,” said BYU head swim and dive coach Tamber McAllister. “I’m happy with where our team is. Everyone is getting better and that’s all I can ask for.”
For the second time in three home meets this season, Anderson broke his own pool record with a 9:17.13 in the 1000 free. The junior from Rock Springs, Wyoming cut over eight seconds off his previous record set Nov. 1, 2024 versus UNLV. At 9:17.13, Anderson also clocked a new personal best while remaining third all-time at BYU in the 1000.
Nelson followed Anderson with another successfully defended pool record, this time in the 200 free. The sophomore from South Jordan, Utah clocked 1:35.59 to top his own Richards Building top mark and earn his ninth event win of the season. Nelson’s 1:35.59 was also good for a personal best, improving on a 1:36.09 set at the Texas Invitational in November.
In the final individual event of the day, Nelson added nine more points for the Cougars and worked his way into double digit wins for the season with a 1:48.48 in the 200 individual medley.
Freshmen Max Kleinman and Peter Etzold combined for 36 more BYU points with two wins a-piece.
Kleinman earned his sixth and seventh race victories of the season with a 48.11 in the 100 back and 47.62 in the 100 fly. Kleinman also climbed the program’s 50 back record board to No. 6 all-time with a 22.16 to lead off the 200 medley relay “B” squad.
Etzold captured both 100 and 200 breast races for BYU with times of 54.12 and 1:59.47, respectively. The Cape Town, South Africa native also opened the day helping Diego Camacho Salgado, Luigi Riva and Nathaniel Eliason to a winning 1:26.64 in the 200 medley relay.
With Etzold’s “A” squad and Kleinman’s “B” crew of Tyler Edlefsen, Jacob Ballard and Joshua Reed, BYU swept the medley relay as Grant Chapa, Fletcher Madsen, Joseph Pyon and Asa Frisbee finished third.
Ballard, Riva and Nathaniel Eliason rounded out the Cougars’ 10 individual wins of the day. Ballard clocked 1:47.93 to win the 200 fly while Riva and Eliason went 19.95 and 44.00 in the 50 and 100 free, respectively.
With BYU and Denver’s dive teams both competing at the Cal Diving Invitational this weekend, the compiled Cougar-Pioneer diving scores contributed to the dual meet final in Provo as well. A pair of freshmen led BYU’s dive scoring with Martí Llop finishing second on 1-meter at 291.45 and Ezra Purcell taking runner-up on 3-meter at 290.95.
Cougar swim and dive next takes to the road for a dual meet at Air Force Jan. 24-25 at Cadet Natatorium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Courtesy: Denver Athletics
PROVO, Utah – The University of Denver men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs closed out a competitive weekend of swimming in the state of Utah with its dual meet at BYU on Saturday at the Richards Building Pool.
Team Scores:
Men:
BYU 193
Denver 107
Women:
BYU 158
Denver 142
Event-by-Event Recap:
Nika Spehar got Denver in the event win column with the first individual event of the day, taking the 1000 free with a time of 10:14.47. Paige Reilly finished third with a time of 10:19.70.
On the men’s side, Kieran Watson got Denver started with a second place finish in the first distance race of the day with his time of 9:20.72.
Ines Marin got the Denver women another victory, finishing 1-2 in the 200 free with Kali Metuzals in times of 1:50.03 and 1:50.50, respectively. Dylan Mes led the Denver men in the 200 with a second place finish in 1:39.83.
Ali Beay earned a second-place finish to lead the Pioneers in the 100 back with a time of 55.59, while Jessica Maeda led the Denver women in the 100 breast with a time of 1:02.68 to also take second.
Marco Nosack earned the middle podium spot in the men’s 100 breast with a time of 55.70.
Sabrina Rachjaibun earned Denver another win, this time in the 200 fly. Rachjaibun led a Denver 1-2 with a time of 2:01.83, finishing just ahead of teammate Mia Moulden who clocked in a 2:02.60.
Brandon Chapman took second in the men’s 200 fly on Saturday afternoon, reaching the wall in 1:48.49.
In the final event before the break, Angie Wyand finished second in the 50 free sprint with her time of 23.49. Frank Tirone led Denver’s men in third with a 20.33.
On the other side of the intermission, Metuzals took second in the 100 free with a time of 51.14, while her teammate Wyand took third in 51.37.
Matija Pantic and Tirone finished third and fourth in the men’s 100 with times of 45.07 and 45.69, respectively.
Denver swept the women’s podium in the 200 back on Saturday. Mina Ada Solaker led the Pioner trio with a time of 1:59.83. Lilly Zippel took second in 2:01.45 and Darian Koler finished third in 2:02.41.
The Pioneer men got their first 1-2 of the day in the 200 back when Dylan Wright got to the wall first in 1:46.20 and Quinn Collins took second in 1:48.84.
Maeda once again finished second in a breaststroke event, this time swimming the 200 in 2:15.13. On the men’s side, Nosack and Nico Morton finished 3-4 with their times of 1:59.90 and 2:02.03.
Denver’s distance swimmers swept the podium in the women’s 500 free. Rachjaibun led the Pioneer trio with her time of 4:59.54, Daniela Alfaro reached the final wall in second in 5:00.23 and after winning the 1000, Spehar finished third in the 500 with a 5:00.84.
Watson and Mes finished first and third in the men’s distance race. Watson got the event win in a time of 4:30.48 and Mes clocked in at 4:32.46.
Marin, Moulden and Beay took spots 2-4 in the women’s 100 fly, all turning in finishing times within 0.53 seconds of eachother. Marin was timed at 55.24 to take second, Moulden finished the race in 55.73 and Beay got to the wall in 55.77.
Hamish McLellan led the Denver men in the 100 fly with his second-place finish in a time of 48.08.
Following the final break of the afternoon, Denver earned spots 2-5 in the women’s 200 IM. Solaker swam the event in 2:03.66, Zippel reached the final wall in 2:04.93, Maeda clocked in at 2:06.19 and Rachjaibun’s busy day continued with a 2:07.62.
Nosack earned a podium spot in the men’s 200 with his time of 1:50.29.
UP NEXT: Following its first off weekend of the opening month of 2025, the Pioneers will be back in action on Saturday, February 1, when Denver travels to Colorado Springs for the annual Sprint Eliminator meet with Air Force.
