Colorado Mesa at BYU
- Oct. 18, 2019
- Provo, Utah
- Men: BYU 155-142; Women: BYU 222-76
- Results
Courtesy: BYU Athletics
PROVO, Utah – The BYU men and women swim and dive teams defeated Colorado Mesa Friday afternoon at the Richards Building Pool.
“The women were outstanding, and even with a few men out and injured, the men stepped up and swam very well,” BYU head coach John Brooks said. “It’s tough to swim in the middle of the day, especially after lifting this morning, but they all handled it well. I’m proud of both teams. Now it’s time to get ready for another day and another race.”
The BYU men’s team topped the Mavericks, 155-142, while the Cougar women came out ahead, 222-76.
The Cougars took a quick lead with both the men’s and women’s teams winning the 200-yard medley relay events. For the women, a team of Brynn Sproul, Lily Plaudis, Katie Smith and Gwen Gustafson finished with a time of 1:42.69. For the men, Jake Walters, Levi Jensen, Javier Matta and Connor Stirling earned the winning touch at 1:31.54.
BYU continued to dominate as the men and women put up the top-three places in the 50-yard freestyle. On the women’s side, Smith took first at 23.87, Kali Brown followed at 24.10 and Leah Gale secured the third spot with a 24.71 time. For the men, Roger Woods took the 20.80 win, Jared Shaw touched after at 21.16 and Jensen followed with at 21.29.
Stirling showcased his talent for the men throughout the meet, taking first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.80 and first in the 100-yard backstroke at 52.43. Plaudis represented the BYU women, touching first in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:02.74 and winning the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:20.17. Freshman Jessica LeSueur took the lead in the distance events, securing first in the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle with times of 5:12.04 and 10:42.66, respectively.
In the 100-yard breaststroke events, Josue Dominguez and Plaudis shined in the pool, both taking first in their individual races. Dominguez swam a time of 55.87 and Plaudis earned a personal best of 1:02.74, setting a new pool record. Tiare Coker and Matta added their own wins, both finishing first in the 200-yard butterfly with times of 2:11.85 and 1:53.35, respectively.
The Cougars closed out the meet, taking first in both the men’s and women’s 400-yard freestyle relays.
For the divers, freshman Summer Westover placed first in the 3-meter event with a score of 299.15 and Kennedy Cribbs took the win in the 1-meter with a 270.60. On the men’s side, Morgan Cooper placed second in the 3-meter event, scoring a 325.20.
The Cougars will remain at home to next battle UNLV on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 11 a.m. MDT.
Courtesy: Colorado Mesa Athletics
PROVO, Utah— Juniors Torsten Rau and Ammar Hassan combined for five event wins and set NCAA Championship qualifying marks to lead a strong Colorado Mesa University effort at BYU in inter-divisional NCAA swimming and diving action here on Friday at the Cougars’ Richard Building Pool.
The Mavericks, ranked 11th in this week’s CSCAA/TYR NCAA Division II Preseason Top 25 Coaches’ poll, won seven of the 16 men’s events contested against the Division I Cougars falling by just 13 points (155-142) in the dual.
The Maverick women, ranked 10th nationally, had three second place finishes and NCAA qualifying score but dropped the contest, 222-76.
Rau touched first in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9 minutes, 43.22 seconds to just get under the provisional NCAA Division II Championship qualifying standard of 9:32.15 with the allowed 11.4-second altitude adjustment and is the first Maverick swimmer to post a B cut time this season.
The Sandhausen, Germany native also later won the 200 back and in 1:53.24 and led a 1-2 Maverick sweep in the 500 free with a time of 4:45.74. Logan Ellis finished second in that event in 4:51.39 after taking third in the 1,000 at 10:13.14.
Meanwhile, Hassan dominated the diving events winning both the 1 and 3-meter competitions by wide amounts with more NCAA qualifying scores. He took the 3-meter by more than 27 points with a tally of 352.60 points, easily over the NCAA qualifying score of 295 before winning the 1-meter with 366.80 points to win by nearly 49 points. That mark also easily surpassed the 1-meter qualifying standard of 285 and was just off his own school-record of 384.85.
Noah Macomber also set an NCAA mark on the 3-meter finishing third with 298.85 points.
Both men had already booked their respective trips to the national championship site last weekend as well in a dual at the University of Denver.
The other event wins for the Mavericks came from Justin Fell in the 200 free and in the 400 free relay. Fell won his race in 1:45.14 ahead of freshman teammate Alex Bruce (1:45.52), who also finished second in the 200 back to Rau with a clocking of 1:57.07.
Bruce then combined with Noah Vallee, Lane Austin and Mahmoud Elgayar to win the relay in 3:09.76.
The Mavs also went 2-3 in both the 100 butterfly and 200 IM. Pedro Terres Illescas was second in the 100 fly at 51.53 ahead of Jake Simmons (51.75) after the Spaniard and CMU record-holder finished third in the 200 fly at 1:55.52. Matthew Barrett was second in the 200 IM with a time of 1:58.00 while Fell finished third at 2:00.94.
Austin and Elgayar also combined for three other third place finishes throughout the dual.
On the women’s side, the Mavericks were led by runner-up efforts from Brittany Dixon on the 1-meter diving board and the 400 free relay team of Lauren White, Maddie Pressler, Davy Brown and Natalie Saul. They posted a time of 3:35.77 while Dixon scored 261.90 points to re-qualify for nationals.
Pressler also finished third in the 200 free at 1:59.33 after Roby Naze did the same in the 1000 free with a time of 10:53.91.
White, a freshman, also had two individual third place finishes in both the 100 back (57.79) and 100 free (53.62) while Isabelle Hannson put down a time of 2:13.05 in the 200 fly to take third as well.
Sophomore Sarah Fillerup, competing in her home state, was third in the 200 back (2:07.74) while Kennedy Bright was an equal placer in the 200 IM with a time of 2:14.12.
The Mavericks, who have competed against only Division I teams in official duals this year, will shift their focus back to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference next week.
The women will dual at Western and Adams State on Thursday and next Friday, respectively, while the men will join them on Friday against the Grizzlies, who are resuming their men’s program this season. Both CMU teams were named unanimous favorites to defend their RMAC crowns this seasons.
