Utah’s swim and dive team honored its senior athletes on Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Ute Natatorium in Salt Lake City. The Utes were dominant, winning 26 of the 32 events on the day. The Utes were able to defeat Colorado Mesa University as well as the University of Denver.

The Utes swim team came into the meet hot. They won the first nine events, with Emma Lawless, Katie Hale, Leyre Casarin and Madison Story combining to win the first race in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:42.18. The men followed right after, winning their race in 1:30.01 with a team of Matt Wilcox, Andrei Ungur, Cooper deRyk and Finn O’Haimhirgin.

A highlight of the day was when junior transfer Summer Stanfield took home the 200 free with a time of 1:52.83 and the 200 back with a time of 2:03.22 in her first competition as a Ute.

Senior Ben Waterman made the most of his Senior Day by winning the 200 free with a time of 1:40.84 and earning a victory in the 100 fly with a time of 48.63.

Sophomore Marko Kovacic, who has had a fantastic season, continued it with a victory in the 200 fly with a strong time of 1:52.13

The long meet had multiple breaks, but prior to the first one, the men and women both swept the 50 free. O’Haimhirgin and Casarin continued their strong performances with times of 20.74 and 23.43 to earn the victories.

Casarin, Maddie Woznick, Emma Lawless and Katie Hale won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:33.40 for the women.

DeRyk, O’Haimhirgin, Hynes and Ungur also earned a victory for the men in the same race with a time of 1:21.88.

On this important day for Utah’s seniors, they were able to have a fantastic day in the pool.

“We are so happy to have a meet finally” head swimming coach Joe Dykstra told Utah Athletics. “We definitely had some rust to kick off but the effort was solid. We will look to build some momentum towards the end of the season.”

The diving team also had a fantastic showing. Freshman Holly Waxman had a beyond phenomenal day, posting a top-ten all-time performance at Utah. She finished first in the 1m dive with a score of 298.85. Lizzy DeCecco and Lexi Mills finished behind Waxman in second and third with scores of 286.45 and 271.40, respectively. Waxman would later finish second in the 3m with a score of 276.70, behind the first place Mills with a score of 311.85.

Luke McDivitt and Tony Chen, two of the celebrated seniors, finished first and second in the 3m with scores of 358.64 and 343.50, respectively.

“I’m really happy with how we competed today after such a long layoff,” head diving coach Richard Marschner said to Utah Athletics. “We had two personal-best performances and some near misses at PB’s, so it was really encouraging to see that our training is paying off and we’re continuing to follow an upward trajectory heading into the final month of the season.”

Lizzy DeCecco and Holly Waxman were ecstatic after the competition.

“I think the team did great,” DeCecco said. “We all did really well and brought each other up as we went along. I got a season personal best today, so I’m really proud of that too.”

Waxman, on her record-setting day, was humble. Instead of taking credit for her incredible day, she credited the team. 

“Everything we’ve done in training this year has come together in competition, which is nice,” Waxman said.

Waxman was also hopeful that individuals on the team could “continue to set personal bests” throughout the rest of the season.

DeCecco recognized that the season is long from over, and the team can still make progress in several areas.

“Consistency is the most important going forward,” DeCecco said. “We have Pac-12s coming up, so establishing that would be great.”

The Utes will travel south next weekend to compete in another matchup in their famous rivalry with BYU.

As coach Dykstra said earlier in the season, focusing on finishing the season in the top twenty in the nation reminds the Utes of their goal. Saturday was a big step forward in that journey.

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