All season, the Utah swimming and diving team has been focused on the upcoming Mountain West Conference championships, but for its meet Friday, the focus is changing.
The Utes will face rival BYU in their last dual meet of the season, making it different from the rest of the season.
“If there is one team that you want to beat no matter what your year looks like, it’s BYU,” said head coach Greg Winslow. “Our week as far as preparation and workload isn’t any different, but when six o’clock Friday night rolls around it will be different.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams are going to have their work cut out for them if they hope to beat their rivals.
The BYU men and women are sitting a spot ahead of the Utes in the MWC standings, with the men at No. 3 and the women at No. 1.
“It would take a stellar performance by every single one of our women to really get the job done,” Winslow said. “BYU’s men have been very dominant in the last couple years, but I think our program is on the rise. We have a one-meet winning streak on the line and we are just going to go in there and swim tough.”
Not only are the Utes looking forward to the chance to compete against their rivals, but they are also looking forward to the atmosphere that comes with a Utah-BYU matchup.
“Last year8212;my freshman year8212;we swam down there and I’m really looking forward to racing them at home,” said Maiya Otsuka. “From what the upperclassmen say, it’s awesome to swim in front of a packed crowd and we’re really looking forward to it.”
In addition to beating their rivals and winning their meets, the Utes have the added weight of swimming for Deseret First Duel points.
The system pits the rivals together across all common sports to determine an overall winner. Both the men and women have the chance to earn Utah a point if they are victorious against BYU.
“You want to contribute to your team winning, especially as dominant as Utah has been this year,” Winslow said. “We want to continue that and be a part of it and make sure the points are going on our side and not the blue side, so it carries a little bit of weight that way.”
Along with their desire to beat BYU, the Utes aren’t losing sight of their end goal8212;the MWC championships.
The team is focused on doing everything it can to get ready for the championships three weeks from now.
“For our men’s side, it would be a huge upset and it would really put them over the block as far as believing in themselves,” Winslow said. “For our women, it would be just another step closer to being the team we think we are.”
The Utes will take on the Cougars on Friday at 6 p.m. in the Ute Natatorium.
Erik DaenitzUtah?s swimming and diving teams will take their focus off of the MWC championships and work on beating BYU Friday night. A win against their rivals will not come easily.