Utah vs. Wyoming
- January 31, 2025
- Green River, Wyoming
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Scores
- Women: Utah, 156 def. Wyoming, 106
- Men: Utah, 178 def. Wyoming, 84
- Full Results
Women’s Recap
Utah junior Erin Palmer took down a decade-old program record in the women’s 100 breaststroke to help lead the Utes to victory over Wyoming. Palmer blazed a 1:00.40, taking down Nicole Ligeza’s 1:00.44 mark from the 2014 Pac-12 Championships by four-hundreths. While she narrowly took control of the 100 breaststroke program record, she bettered her lifetime best by a wider margin, cutting .51 seconds from the lifetime best of 1:00.91 that she swam at the U.S. Open. Coming into the season, Palmer’s best was a 1:01.02 from the final Pac-12 Championships, where she finished 14th.
Palmer’s 100 breaststroke program record highlighted her day, but she was also successful in her other events. She won her other individual event of the day, the 100 freestyle, swimming 49.98. She was also a key part of Utah’s winning 400 medley and 200 freestyle relays, anchoring the team medley relay with a 49.00 and leading off the final relay in 22.64.
Norah Hay was also a top contributor for Utah as she joined Palmer on both winning relays and swept the backstroke events. Hay went 1-2 with teammate Alexia Duncan in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. First, Hay clocked 54.43 in the 100 back ahead of Duncan’s 55.02. Then, Hay swam 1:57.60 in the 200 backstroke, winning ahead of Duncan’s 2:01.05.
Julia Bartell, Chloe Thompson, Sydney Even, and Ella Derby were Utah’s other individual event winners at the meet. Bartell got her hand on the wall first in the 50 freestyle with a 23.34. She touched .15 seconds ahead of Mikayla Moore, who led a 2-3-4 finish for Wyoming. Thompson took control of the 500 freestyle (4:58.28), Derby the 400 IM (4:23.82), and Even won a close race in the 100 butterfly. Even swam 55.36, touching four-hundredths ahead of Duncan. The top five swimmers were involved in a close race and at the wall were separated by six-tenths, with the top three just .24 seconds apart.
Wyoming lost the meet by 50 points but still earned a handful of event wins on the day. Macey Hansen got the team started, pulling away from the field to win with a 10:09.43. The team got wins in back-to-back events, as Tara Joyce claimed the 200 freestyle in 1:50.00.
Wyoming branched out from freestyle and got its other event wins in the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke. Ellie Fritscher won the 200 butterfly by nearly a second (2:03.79), then Bryn Busskohl did the same in the 200 breaststroke (2:14.81).
Men’s Recap
Ten different men contributed event wins as the Utah men cruised past Wyoming, 178-84. Despite Utah’s dominance, it was Wyoming who started the meet with a win, as Collin Davis, Drew Ravegum, Gavin Smith, and Luke O’Connor teamed up to swim 3:16.88 in the 400 medley relay.
The quartet edged out Utah’s ‘A’ relay by .59 seconds, but the Utes got rolling in the next event, the 1000 freestyle, and went on an eight-event run in the pool. Quinn Jones grabbed the 1000 freestyle victory for Utah with a 9:26.59.
Then, not only did Utah go on to win the next eight events, but they went 1-2 in the next three events, the 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, and 100 breaststroke. Evan VanBrocklin led the charge in the 200 freestyle, as did Parker McOmber in the 100 backstroke (49.21) and Baylor Lewis in the 100 breaststroke (55.82). The 100 breaststroke was a close race between Utah teammates Lewis and Durgan McKean, as Lewis out-touched McKean by six-hundredths.
Utah picked up more 1-2 finishes in the 50 freestyle and 200 backstroke, led by Marshall Odom (20.30) and Nate Decker (1:47.73).
Griff Orloff put a stop to Utah’s streak by winning the 200 breaststroke. After turning fifth at the 50-yard mark, Orloff began to move through the field and pulled ahead to win the event in 2:01.82. Utah got back in the win column in the next event as Chance Ricca won the 500 freestyle (4:34.06), but Wyoming quickly got another win as Smith, a 3x 2024 WAC Championships finalist, won the 100 butterfly (47.63).
Smith’s win was Wyoming’s last of the day, as Utah sealed its dominant win by placing first in the final two events, the 400 IM (Brandon Miller, 3:55.24) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:20.40).
Other Event Winners:
- 200 butterfly: Jakub Walter, Utah — 1:47.24
- 100 freestyle: Davis Stachelek, Utah — 44.89
Up Next
Utah will wrap its regular season with a two-day meet against BYU next weekend. Wyoming’s next meet is the University of Denver’s Chance Invitational from Feb. 7-8.
