The men from Utah move to 6-0 on the season with their 179 – 101 victory over Colorado Mesa, winning 15 out of 16 events on the day.
Starting the meet off with a sweep of the 200 medley relay, the Utah ‘A’ squad of Nick Soedel, Bence Kiraly, Kristian Kron, and Alex Fernandes touched first in 1:31.93. The Utah ‘B’ squad touched 2nd with a 1:32.75 effort, and the Ute ‘C’ team finished in a 1:36.99.
Utah continued their sweep of the top spots with Peter Kotson winning the 1,000 free in 9:36.48, followed closely by teammate Andy Cunningham touching in 9:36.58. Utah took first in the 500 free as well, with Kron swimming a 4:37.49. And with Utah moving to exhibition mode, Kyle Johnston from Mesa took second with a 4:57.97.
Joshua Bedford from Colorado Mesa was the victor in the 100 breast, posting a 59.62 effort. Bedford was second in the 200 breast with a 2:16.46, behind Brandon Young from Utah who took the win in 2:07.86.
In diving, Utah’s Jacob Crayne scored a career high 390.75 points in the 3-meter event. Mesa’s Ryan Popp took second with a score of 188.02. Crayne and Popp took first and second in the 1-meter event, with scores of 300.22 and 229.50 respectively.
The sprint freestyle events were both won by Utah. In the 50 free it was Soedel, posting a 20.54 effort ahead of Peter Szekely from Mesa who touched in 22.16. The 100 free was won by Fernandez who swam a 46.13, with Szekely once again taking second for Mesa in 48.15.
The Ute’s closed the meet with a win in the 400 free relay. The ‘A’ squad of Soedel, Alexander Brown, Fernandes, and Graham Charlton posted a 3:05.85 ahead of the Mesa ‘A’ squad of Szekely, Sky Hirsch, Zach Edgar, and Justin Hastings who touched in 3:15.15 for second place.
Reflecting on the victory, Utah head coach Joe Dykstra had this to say about the teams performance: “….the racing on our part was not very good. It was sloppy across the boards. We had some individual bright spots. But overall, I am disappointed with the lack of focus and lack of execution today.”
The Utah men are next in action on December 4-6, when they travel to Grand Junction, CO for the Colorado Mesa Invitational. Colorado Mesa next face Adams State on November 14th.
