If overall scores are any indication of a program’s improvement, the Utah women’s swim and dive team is on its way up.
The Pac-12 Women’s Championships were held in Federal Way, Wash. last weekend, and the Utes finished in sixth, improving on their consecutive seventh-place finishes from the last two seasons.
“An excellent overall team performance,“ said head coach Joe Dykstra. “We more than doubled our team point total from the previous year. We were actually a lot closer to fourth than we were to seventh.”
Utah finished with 758 points, which was 178.5 points behind fourth-place UCLA. Seventh-place Arizona State finished almost 300 points behind the Utes. All five teams that finished ahead of Utah are ranked in the top 20 nationally. Top-ranked Cal took the title.
Utah’s stars of the weekend were freshman Stina Colleou and junior Kersten Merry. Colleou took second in the 200-yard breaststroke by setting a new school record of 2:09.07, and Merry took third in platform dives. Those results were the Utes’ first podium finishes since joining the Pac-12.
“I’m going to listen to Coach Dykstra,” Colleou said. “He is a great coach, and there are no limits for me.”
Dykstra echoed Colleou’s thoughts, saying, “There is no ceiling for her.”
The season isn’t over for Utah, as it will next set its sights on the NCAA Women’s Championships in Minneapolis from March 20-22. Dykstra has high expectations for all of his athletes that qualified for NCAAs, especially Colleou.
“She wasn’t totally rested for this meet either because she had already qualified for the NCAAs in the fall, so we trained her pretty hard up until last week,” Dykstra said. “So for her to be able to go for her best time is a good sign.”
After a successful weekend with the women’s team, Dykstra has to turn his attention to the men’s team, as it will start its conference championships Wednesday. Dykstra believes the success of the women’s team last weekend will help energize the men’s team.
“The men’s team has a great shot to get four if not all five of our relays qualified for NCAAs, which is where you start picking up big national points,” he said.
As for individual athletes, Dykstra expects a good week from junior Nick Soedel, who has already qualified for the NCAA Championships. He enters the Pac-12 Championships with the number one time in the conference in the 100-yard freestyle, which is good for eighth-best in the country this season. Dykstra also believes Bence Kiraly and Kristian Kron can both qualify for the NCAA Chamionships.
The men’s championships will run through Saturday.
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