It was yet another weekend that the University of Utah swim team traveled to Federal Way, Wash., but this time the men’s side competed in the Pac-12 Championships as the Utes finished in sixth place.
“This was the best conference meet Utah has ever had as a team,” said head coach Dykstra. “We’ve had greater individual successes, but never this level of success as a total team.”
Each day, more and more members of this current roster mark their name in Utah swimming history.
“We broke half of our team records this past week,” Dykstra said.
Although the Utes had a few rocky starts, such as being disqualified for false starting a few times, that didn’t stop them from coming out with passion, determination and heart for a weekend full of competition.
“We had a couple of relay false starts, which were unfortunate and cost us 52 points overall, but we were more competitive than ever in the best swimming conference in the NCAA,” Dykstra said.
On the first evening of the championships, the first broken record was the 200 medley relay race. Paul Ungur, Jack Burton, McKay King and Colten Montgomery touched the wall during the event at a time of 1:25.45.
On the second day, sophomore Daniel McArthur set a new time for the 200 IM while junior Jack Burton also broke a record in the 200 breaststroke.
The Utes came out triumphantly on the third day with the determination to win. McArthur swam a 46.60, and he set a new school time in the 100 back. Ungur broke the school record with a time of 46.31, and both teammates qualified for the NCAA with “B” cut times.
“18 guys reached NCAA ‘B’ cut time which is by far a program record,” Dykstra said, “It is wonderful for Paul and Daniel to make NCAAs. We had three to four more guys just miss by a 10th of a second or more, so I think the future looks bright.”
The final day of championships was the icing on the cake as both McArthur and Burton broke another school record. McArthur broke the record in the 200 back when he finished seventh overall with a time of 1:41.66 in preliminaries.
Burton ended up breaking his very own school record in the 200 breaststroke, and he touched the wall with a time of 1:55.69 to win “B” final. Ungur also broke the record in the 100 back after finishing with a time of 45.69.
Next up for the Utes are the NCAA Championships.
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