The University of Utah swim and dive teams had their first dual competition with the women’s swim team heading to Pullman, Washington to compete against Washington State while both the men and women’s dive team head to UCLA for an individual competition. 

Day 1 

On the first day of competition in Pullman, the Utes put the first points on the board with the 200-meter free relay. Emma Boone, Emma Lawless, Maddie Woznik, and Sadie Edwards competed in the 200-meter relay and scored a time of 1:42.2. 

The Utes raced in the 400m free relay, the 1000m free, 200m free, the 100m breast, 200m breast, 100m fly, and 200m back. In the 400-meter free relay, Kayla Miller, Audry Reeimer, Lawless, and Woznik scored a time of 3:24.33. Sara McClendon took first place in the 1000 freestyle and Cameron Daniell took second in the same race. 

The Utes had a strong showing in the 200 freestyle race with Taylor Kabacy, Amber Gardner, and Mandy Gebhart all placing within the top 5. Charity Pittard won the 100 breast race and took second in the 200 breast race. Lawless and Broome took first and second place in the 100m fly race. Reimer won the 200m back and Lawless competed hard to take the win in the 100m fly. 

Overall, the Utes had a great first competition for the start of the 2021 season, beating WSU with a score of 140-118. 

At the UCLA Invitational, the dive team took some podium spots. Tony Chen took another first place spot in the 3m competition. Chase Hindermarsh and Jenner Pennock both placed within the top 5. 

The women’s team started out with the 1m competition. Lexi Mills placed 3rd in the competition while fellow teammate Lizzy De Cecco took fourth in the competition. Emma Ruchula and Regan Caulfield placed within the top ten of the competition. 

Day 2 

On the second day of competition at UCLA the Utah Dive team competed hard.

De Cecco placed 2nd in the 3m competition while Mills, Ruchula, and Caulfield placed within the top ten of the event. 

The men competed in the platform event where Hindmarsh placed 3rd with a score of 530.30. Pennock and Chen trailed behind with fourth and fifth place in the event. 

Day 3 

The final day of the competition took place and the Utes had a strong showing with several athletes taking podium places and competing well. The men competed in the 1m event while the women competed in the platform event. 

Chen took first place in the 1m event with a score of 588.05. Pennock came in right behind Chen by taking second place in the event with a score of 543.00. Hindmarsh placed in the top five of the event. 

On the platform event, the women had several Utes place in the top ten. Caulfield took first place in the event with a score of 436.70. Mills placed fourth place with a score of 368.80. Ruchula and DeCecco both placed in the top ten in the event.

The Utah swim and dive teams had a great start to the season. The next event is at home on Jan. 23 where the Utes will host Colorado Mesa.

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