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Feb. 6, 2009
Video of Meet at floswimming.org
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - With the outcome uncertain till the final few events, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams lost to in-state rival BYU. The men fell to the Cougars 154-144 and the women lost 160-140.
"I'm proud of our team. The team didn't have that impressive of a showing last year, so taking [BYU] to the last few events was a huge improvement," said head coach Greg Winslow. "It wasn't just in the pool. Everyone was on their feet for the whole meet, cheering on their teammates. That's what being a team is all about."
The women started out slow, losing the 200 medley relay by 1.69 second and coming in second in the 1000 free, putting them behind by 18 points. The Utes slowly made their way back, with Whitney Lopus (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Hannah Caron (Raleigh, N.C.) coming in first at 1:50.41 and second at 1:51.68 in the 200 free, respectively. They also came in first and second in the 100 breast, with Annie VanLeeuwen (West Valley City, Utah) in first with a time of 1:04.36 and Maiya Otsuka (Littleton, Colo.) in second at 1:05.81.
The women's diving also helped with the come back. The divers scored 13 points for the Utes in the 3-meter dive, with Anna Braszkiewicz (Warsaw, Poland) finishing in first with a score of 296.02, Kwan Ling Yu (Yuen Long, Hong Kong) in third with her score of 278.03, and Jessica Schenk (Park City, Utah) in fifth with her score of 270.40. The Utah women's divers also scored nine points in the 1-meter dive, with Braszkiewicz finishing second with a score of 271.12., Yu in third with a score of 270.83, and Schenk in third at 270.52.
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"As a group, they are moving in the direction I want to see them at," said diving coach Kelsey Patterson. "I kept telling them, "You know what to do. You do it every day in practice." They keep doing what we ask and scoring points when we need them too."
Halfway through the meet, the score was 79-71 for the Cougars. The women were never able to make up the difference, despite great showings in the 200 breast and the 100 fly. Otsuka led the way in the 200 breast, finishing first in a time of 2:19.73. Behind her was Lauren Hewson (Estes Park, Colo.) in second with a time of 2:24.96. Caron finished first in the 100 fly in a time of 55.14. Going in to the last two events, the 200 IM and the 400 free relay, the Utes still were capable of winning the meet, but were unable to win either event. Caron in the 200 IM was .66 of a second from first and anchored the 400 free relay team in second, just .62 of a second behind first.
"Hannah came into her own tonight. Her 100 fly time was excellent. Her toughness in swimming the 200 IM and anchoring the relay, both within 15 minutes of each other, was incredible," said Winslow.
The Utah men's swimming and diving team started out the meet taking first, third, and fourth in the 1000 free. Adam Oliver (Colorado Springs, Colo.) finished in first at 9:30.87 and Eric Bonicelli (Overland Park, Kan.) finished third at 9:42.43 and Rick Mason (Corvallis, Ore.) was in fourth at 9:50.77. The men continued to win, with George Evans (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Marco Ferraro (Freberdorf, Switzerland) taking first and second in the 200 free. Ferraro finished first with a time of 1:41.97 and Evans in second at 1:42.25.
John Baque (Olympia, Wash.) and Michel DeCarolis (Therwil, Switzerland) swept the breast events for the meet. Baque, who went into the meet on a three-meet win streak in the 200 breast, continued to win taking first in the 100 breast in a time of 57.25 and first in the 200 breast in a time of 2:05.61. DeCarolis was right behind him in both events, finishing second in the 100 breast in a time of 58.75 and second in the 200 breast with a time of 2:05.61.
"John has been swimming great for us, winning in the last four meets," said Winslow. "When Michel gets relaxed for the race, they both race great. They are both huge leaders for the team. I don't want to say that we expect them to take first and second each meet, but we hope for it."
Michael Glasson (Price, Utah) had a career night, scoring 245.39 in the 1-meter dive and 240.00 in the 3-meter dive. Both scores were career highs for Glasson.
Halfway through the meet, the men held a three-point lead. The Utes kept the meet close even until the very last race. Oliver and Ferraro finished first in 4:40.39 and second in 4:41.58 in the 500 free, respectively. The Utes also got a valuable win in the 100 fly, with Simon Olberholzer (Schaffhausen, Switzerland) finishing in first in 50.57 and Luke Donohue (Portland, Ore.) in third in 53.70.
The men were behind by one point going into the final race of the night, the 400 free relay. The race was neck and neck going into the final leg, but the Cougars were able to pull ahead and win in 3:05.07. The Utes were right behind them, finishing in 3:06.01.
"Now is the part of the season everyone gets to rest," said Winslow. "We have the next couple weeks off, and then we have the Mountain West Conference Championships in Oklahoma City. We're at the point where we have no more next times. The next time is the championships."
The MWC Championships begin Feb. 25 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
