The Lady Ute swimmers handily defeated the Oregon State Beavers on Friday at the Ute Natatorium. The Utes finished the meet winning 10 events and taking a final score of 157-96. Standouts for the Utes in the meet were Jordan Anderson and Stina Colleou, who each won two events. Colleou, a senior from Oslo, Norway, said that the goal for the Utes going into the event was to win every event.
“We didn’t quite reach our goal,” Colleou said, “but even on the events we didn’t get first we got second, which was big for us. It was so fun to push each other during the meet to get faster and faster times. It was a great atmosphere.”
Other standouts for the Utes included Kat Wickam, who took first in the 1000m freestyle, and Sarah Lott, who won the 200 free and took second in the 100 free, being beaten by teammate Dorien Butter. Also nabbing wins in the meet were Kristine Pataray in the 50m free, as well as the relay team of Megan Kawaguchi, Mariah Gassaway, Kristine Pataray, and Gillian St. John in the 200 medley relay.
“This gives us a lot of confidence going into our meets coming up” Colleou said. “Going into Oregon State, we were expecting to be fast, but not as fast as we were. Winning our first conference meet is a big accomplishment and helps us feel ready to compete all season.”
The Utes have a busy weekend ahead, competing in both the Florida Gulf Coast University Invitational and the Intermountain Shootout. When asked about scheduling two meets in the same weekend, coach Joe Dykstra said, “Florida Gulf Coast is an interesting opportunity for us. They do not have a men’s swim program, but they host this invitational meet every year. It is an opportunity to face some high level competition, but because of the format of the meet we are only allowed to bring 12 men and 12 women. We wanted to give the rest of our swimmers an opportunity to compete, so having a somewhat local competition for them to race.”
Coach Dykstra is looking to see his women improve on performances from Oregon State, while the men set a good benchmark for the first official meet of the season.
“Our boys haven’t had a chance really to compete yet, so it will be good to see how they fair. Our girls performed well against Oregon State, but there are still a lot of things to clean up. The Florida meet will be at sea level, so we expect some really fast times out of our swimmers there. “
Those traveling to Florida this weekend will be facing host Florida Gulf Coast, South Carolina, LSU, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Rutgers and Grand Canyon University, while those traveling to Colorado for the Intermountain Shootout will be matched up against BYU, Airforce, Liberty and host Colorado Mesa. Both meets will begin on Friday evening and continue into Saturday.