BYU Wins Men’s MPSF Championship Title for the First Time Since 2016

2021 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships – Men

  • Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20, 2021
    • Diving Tuesday, February 16 – Wednesday, February 17, 2021
  • Cal Poly Anderson Aquatics Center, San Luis Obispo, CA (Pacific Time Zone)
  • Defending Champion: Hawaii men (2x) & Hawaii women (4x) (results)
  • Live Video
  • Championship Central
  • Timeline
  • Psych Sheets
  • Full Meet Results
  • Results on Meet Mobile: “2021 MPSF Swim & Dive Champs”

BYU men claimed victory on the final day of the 2021 MPSF Championships, disrupting Hawaii’s 2-year win streak. The last time BYU won the MPSF Championship was in 2016 when they bested 2nd place team, UC Santa Barbara, by 245 points.

The Cougars’ lead wasn’t solidified until today. They ended Friday’s finals session with a 64 point lead over Hawaii – the equivalent of just over 3 first place finishes in individual races or a relay win alongside an individual win. But when BYU wins, BYU wins big. The Cougars ended the meet by doubling that lead, creating a margin of victory of 135 points over Hawaii.

Day 4 Results

Cal Poly freshman Kieran McNulty scored the host team’s second victory of the meet in the 1650 free with a time of 15:31.43. This destroyed his lifetime best of 15:47.86 from 2018. In 2nd place was UCSB’s Gabe Nickels (15:40.36) who added about 22 seconds to the lifetime best he posted at the 2019 Winter Junior Nationals.

McNulty was already on pace to drop significant time in this event after he won the 500 free (4:23.30) on Thursday and improved his lifetime best by 5 seconds. He took out tonight’s mile in a 500 split of 4:31.06.

Roger Woods led a 1-3-5-8  BYU “sandwich” finish in the 100 free ‘A’ final which scored the team a total of 61 points. Woods touched the wall first at 44.27, narrowly out touching Hawaii’s Franz Adam by .07. Woods shaved .06 off his lifetime best from the 2019 Mizzou Invite.

This was also a personal best for Adam who split a 43.78 on a relay at last year’s MPSF Championships. His teammate, Tim Masten, was also enveloped by the BYU pack, placing 4th with a time of 44.51. 4th through 6th place were decided by .04.

Hawaii’s Timothy Gallagher touched the wall 1st in the 200 back with a lifetime best time of 1:43.84, ahead of teammate Sean Hogan (1:44.94). Gallagher’s previous best, 1:44.18, was from last season’s MPSF Championships.

In the 200 breast, UCSB’s Alec Cullen claimed victory for the Gauchos with a time of 1:55.41. He broke his own MPSF Championship record which he set last year by one-third of a second. BYU junior Josue Dominguez, who broke the BYU school record in the 100 breast on Friday, touched the wall 2nd (1:56.71). This was a slight add for Dominguez who posted his lifetime best, 1:55.97, at the 2019 Mizzou Invite.

BYU pulled a 1-2 finish in the 200 butterfly led by Brad Prolo (1:44.16) who was followed by Javier Nicolas (1:45.96). With this swim, Prolo broke the longest-standing MPSF Championship record which was set in 2013. He crushed his previous lifetime best, set last month, by 2 seconds. Half a second behind was Dominic Falcon from USCB. Nicolas shaved .11 from his personal best from the 2019 Mizzou Invite while Falcon also snuck under his best time from last season’s MPSF Championships by about .20.

Hawaii and BYU had a showdown in the 400 freestyle relay, ultimately resulting in BYU’s relay of Woods, Brigham Harrison, Nicolas, and Connor Stirling claiming victory with a time of 2:56.48, about 1.3 seconds ahead of the ‘Bows. BYU started off with a strong lead, then Hawaii made up some ground on the 3rd leg where Gallagher outsplit Nicolas by nearly .30. But, it wasn’t enough to catch the Cougars.

Men’s Final Team Standings

  1. Brigham Young University – 885.5
  2. University of Hawaii – 750.5
  3. UC Santa Barbara – 627
  4. Cal Poly – 547.5
  5. University of Pacific – 264.5

BYU men after winning the 2021 MPSF Championships – courtesy of Kyle Calzia / MPSF

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Joe
3 years ago

Way to go BYU!

Fortnite Nick
3 years ago

The premier mid-major comp

About Annika Johnson

Annika Johnson

Annika came into the sport competitively at age eight, following in the footsteps of her twin sister and older brother. The sibling rivalry was further fueled when all three began focusing on distance freestyle, forcing the family to buy two lap counters. Annika is a three-time Futures finalist in the 200 …

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