On Friday, The University of Utah Swim & Dive team visits UNLV for their sixth meet. Utah currently ranks the Ute men No. 27 and the women No. 30 in the nation, according to the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).
Utah women Swimming fought hard and was very close to winning against UCLA, but was defeated for 156-144 last Saturday. The head coach Joe Dykstra expressed his sense of frustration about getting close to winning in recent meets. “We have to find a way to get just a little bit better and start winning these meets,” Dykstra said.
The Utes showed a strong performance at the beginning of the meet as they won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:42.13 with a team of Emma Lawless, Mariah Gassaway, Aryanna Fernandes and Gillian St. John. St. John won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.80 and marked Utah’s top record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.53. Lawless also pushed hard on her 100-yard butterfly in 55.42. Fernandes captured second in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:03.18.
Senior captain Darby Wayner was crucial to the team’s success, placing first in both the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.72 and 2:19.17, respectively. She also placed second in the 200-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 2:05.93.
Freshman Audrey Reimer continued a successful season by capturing second in 100-yard and 200-yard back with a time of 56.67 and 2:02.70 respectively. Following, junior Sarah Lott’s comeback race was marvelous as she captured first in her 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:51.90.
Sophomore Sara McClendon showed a great peak of her potential as she swam 1000-yard freestyle and captured second with a time of 10:35.21. Newcomer freshman Kristina Miletic placed third with a time of 10:38.31.
Emma Ruchala was the top Utah diver as she got second place in both the one meter and three-meter events with scores of 240.60 and 270.08. Following that, Clare Greenlow placed third in both one meter and three-meter events with a 230.70 and 224.70.
While Utah’s Women’s Dive team started strong with their early season, swimming also has a bright future of winning at UNLV as they came close to dethroning several strong L.A. schools.
The team meet is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m, the swimming meet will start first at 4 P.M., and the diving meet will start at 6 P.M.