2023 MPSF SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
- Human Performance Center, St. George, UT
- Diving: Marguerite Aquatic Center, Mission Viejo, CA
- Defending Champions:
- Women: UC San Diego (1x)
- Men: BYU (2x)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
- Record Book
- Fan Guide
- Psych Sheet
FINAL TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
- Hawaii – 773.5
- UCSD – 604
- BYU – 592
- UCSB – 544
- UC Davis – 454
- CSUB – 274
- Pacific – 182
- San Diego – 146.5
- Cal Poly – 143
- UIW – 107
MEN
- BYU – 830
- UCSB – 696
- Hawaii – 569.5
- UIW – 422
- UC San Diego – 409
- CSUB – 306.5
- Cal Poly – 202
- Pacific – 179
Hawaii took back the women’s MPSF title after UCSD won it last year, finishing first by a convincing 169.5-point margin. Meanwhile, the BYU men’s team won the title for a third year in a row, beating out runner-up Hawaii by 134 points.
Hawaii notched a meet record in the women’s 200 free relay, dipping under 1:30. Holly Nelson (22.83), Laticia Transom (22.50), Anna Friedrich (22.23), and Gabby Williams (22.17) teamed up for a 1:29.83. UCSD came in second with a 1:30.20, fueled in large part by a field-leading 22.01 split from Tina Reuter on the third leg.
UC Santa Barbara won the men’s 200 free relay in a tight race with Hawaii. UCSD clocked a 1:18.45, beating Hawaii by 0.24 seconds.
Hawaii fifth year Laticia Transom, who transferred from USC for grad school, made a huge impact in her first and only MPSF Championships. Transom first won the women’s 50 free in 22.26, breaking the MPSF meet record in the event. on top of that, she won the race by over half a second.
Transom then won the 100 back in 51.88, breaking that meet record as well. She split the race well, going out in 25.08 on the first 50 and coming home in 51.88. The star capped off her individual racing with another resounding victory, this time in the women’s 100 free. Transom clo0cked a 47.86, winning by 1.61 seconds and, once again, cracking the meet record in the event.
Transom was also critical to Hawaii’s relays, which performed exceptionally well. In the women’s 400 free relay, Holly Nelson (49.28), Laticia Transom (46.66), Anna Friedrich (49.18), and Gabby Williams (49.62) combined for a 3:14.74, shattering the meet record. Additionally, they were only a little over half a second off the NCAA ‘A’ cut of 3:14.10.
UCSD’s Juli Arzave was another one of the top women’s performers of the meet. Arzave, a senior, won the women’s 500 free in 4:47.95, finishing as the only swimmer under 4:50 in the event. She was out fast, splitting 2:20.77 on the first 250, then came home in 2:27.18.
Arzave then went on to win the women’s 1650 free in 16:34.67, winning the title by 11 seconds. As she did in her 500, Arzave took the mile out fast as well. She split 4:50.71 in the first 500, then went 5:04.89 on the second 500, then 5:08.63 on the third 500. Arzave came home in 1:30.14 on the final 150 yards.
UCSD’s Katja Pavicevic swept the women’s breaststroke events, probably doing enough to earn an invitation to NCAAs as well. She clocked a 1:00.83 in the 100 breast, winning a tight race. She got out to slim early lead, splitting 28.40 on the first 50, then came home in 32.43, holding off Hawaii’s Kathryn Ivanov (1:00.99) and UCSD’s Chloe Braun (1:01.07).
Pavicevic then went on to win the women’s 200 breast in 2:09.06, breaking the meet record in the event. She was out almost as fast as she went in her individual 100, splitting 1:01.67 on the first 100 of the race. Additionally, she now sits at 24th in the NCAA this season in the 200 breast, which puts her in an excellent position to earn an invite to NCAAs next month given the remaining conference meets that have yet to take place.
Kyle Brill, a UC Santa Barbara sophomore, swept the men’s IMs. In the 200 IM, he swam a 1:44.99, getting out to an early lead with a 49.32 on the first 100, then really taking the race over thanks to a 29.66 breast split. Teammate Dominic Falcon came in second at 1:45.67, closing the gap rapidly on the final 50 thanks to a sizzling 24.79 free split.
Brill then won the 400 IM in 3:46.20, again fully taking control of the race on breaststroke, where he split 1:02.49 this time. It was Falcon who again came in second, swimming a 3:49.58.
Another UCSB sophomore, Matt Driscoll, swept the men’s backstroke events. In the 100 back, he swam a 46.09, dominating the race by touching 1.44 seconds ahead of the runner-up. Driscoll was exceptional on the second 50 of the race, roaring home in 23.53. He then went on to win the 200 back in 1:41.38, beating Brill, who touched second in 1:42.11. Brill was actually leading Driscoll at the 150 turn, but Driscoll came home in a very speedy 25.66 on the final 50, which was nearly a full second faster than Brill’s 26.62.
UCSB junior Sean Gutowski was a double event winner as well. He first won the men’s 50 free in 19.87. After that, he took the men’s 100 free in 43.47, running down BYU’s Javier Nicolas and Brigham Harrison on the second 50. Nicolas was first into the 50 turn, splitting 20.32, with Harrison closely behind at 20.56, while Gutowski was back at 21.28. Gutowski then came roaring home in 22.19, which was much faster than Nicolas and Harrison. In the end, Nicolas touched second in 43.61, while Harrison was third at 43.69.
Nicolas had won the men’s 100 fly earlier in the meet, swimming a 46.52. He was dominant in the race, winning by just shy of a full second.
CSU Bakersfield freshman Vili Sivec won the men’s 200 free in a tight race, posting a 1:34.72. He got out to the lead on the front half, splitting 45.24 on the first 100, then managed to hold on through the back half as UCSB’s Austin Sparrow closed the gap. Sparrow ended up finishing second in 1:34.93.
BYU put on a show in the men’s 100 breast, going 1-2-3 with a trio of 52s. Brad Prolo won the race in 52.67, followed by Evan VanderSluis (52.88) and Josue Dominguez (52.98). Dominguez was notably 52.78 in prelims.
Dominguez earned the spot on the BYU men’s 400 medley relay, helping them to victory with a 52.02 breast split. Diego Camacho Salgado led off in 47.80, followed by Dominguez, then Nicolas with a 45.44 fly split, and Luigi Riva with a 43.16 anchor. They clocked a 3:08.42, breaking the meet record in the event.
After winning the men’s 100 breast, Brad Prolo would go on to win the 200 fly on the final day of the meet. He clocked a 1:44.25, building a lead throughout the first 150 yards of the race.
BYU closed out the meet with a 2:52.25 in the men’s 400 free relay, breaking the meet record in the process. Brigham Harrison (43.52), Diego Camacho Salgado (43.23), Luigi Riva (43.16), and Javier Nicolas (42.34) teamed up to earn the win. Another notable split came from Sean Gutowski, who anchor the UCSB relay in 42.57.
OTHER EVENT WINNERS
- Women’s 200 fly: Maelynn Lawrence (UCSB) – 1:58.18
- Women’s 200 back: Anna Friedrich (Hawaii) – 1:57.10
- Women’s 200 free: Mikayla Popham (CSUB) – 1:47.75
- Women’s 400 IM: Maelynn Lawrence (UCSB) – 4:19.16
- Women’s 100 fly: Anna Lee (UC Davis) – 53.73
- Women’s 200 IM: Tina Reuter (UCSD) – 2:00.58
- Men’s 500 free: Austin Sparrow (UCSB) – 4:21.15
- Men’s 1650 free: Taber daCosta (UCSB) – 15:15.05
- Men’s 200 breast: Alec Cullen (UCSB) – 1:55.36
is St. George at altitude?
2,700 feet, which doesn’t qualify for any conversions under USA Swimming or NCAA policies.
UCSB men seemed to win the majority of the events…surely there must be some reason they got second?
One big difference between the teams is that UCSB chose to not allocate their resources and scholarship dollars toward divers, and instead invested all of that toward swimming. BYU chose to invest resources and scholarships toward diving.
ucsb cut their diving program almost a decade ago. the school has very limited funding for all athletics but especially swimming. this is the 3rd time in the last 5 years where they won the swimming but lost the meet because of diving. congratulations to BYU but UCSB has been the dominant swim team in the MPSF over the last decade or so
man we poor as hell we ain’t got no money for a dive team, we don’t even have a platform
Just jump off the cliff on DP and land in the shorebreak.
46.6 relay split at a mid-major? Jeez
You mean the transfer from Southern Cal?
UCSD’s Juli Arzave was out SO FAST in 1650. She was 25 on the first 50 and began to fade around the 600 mark. If she can maintain that early speed, she is going to be an absolute monster in the long-distance events! I remember watching her at OW nationals, took the 10K out very fast also.
Surprised she doesn’t get that much recognition. She’s been on 3 JR team’s and a national team in OW. Huge star, Wave I finalist and has a 9:46 in the 1000