The Ute men and women both claimed victories against the BYU cougars at the Deseret First Duel to keep the Deseret Duel Trophy with Utah. For the Utah senior women’s final home meet, the Utes outscored BYU 170-126, while the Utah men beat BYU 205-93 to remain undefeated in Pac-12 meets.
“It went better than I ever imagined it was going to,” said Utah head coach Joe Dykstra in a statement to Utah Athletics. “It means a lot to our swimmers and divers to defend out home pool. They really stepped up. We are still in heavy training; we are weeks out from Pac-12 still. For us to come in and put up this display like we did today, I’m really proud of the team.”
The Utah women kicked off the meet with a 1-2 sweep in the 200 Medley Relay, with the Utes’ A team finishing in 1:44.31 and the B team touching in 1:46.67. BYU’s A team finished two one-hundredths of a second behind for third in 1:46.69. Utah kept the ball rolling with a win in the men’s event as well (1:29.48) ahead of BYU’s A team (1:31.32).
Freshman Ute Kat Wickham took the 1000 Free (10:34.96) in a close race against BYU freshman Vanessa Moffatt (10:35.67). Third was Utah junior Maudee Miner in 11:00.38. On the men’s side, the Utah freshman class stepped up to deliver a 1-2-3-4 finish. The charge was led by Peter Kotson in 9:33.14. Kotson was followed by teammates Brandon Shreeve (9:36.83), Matthew Bolinger (9:42.03) and Calvin Rogers (9:47.03).
Utah freshman teammates Dorien Butter (1:53.67) and Hailey Pabst (1:54.65) took first and second in the 200 Free. BYU sophomore Lauren Taylor followed up for third in 1:54.71. In the men’s event, Utah junior Bence Kiraly took his first of three event victories in 1:39.03. Finishing just behind for second was BYU junior Jake Taylor (1:40.16). Utah’s Kristian Kron took third in 1:41.35.
Utah’s Megan Kawaguchi (57.15) and Amanda Barrett (57.57) claimed first and second in the 100 Back ahead of BYU’s Ciera Keller (57.83). BYU broke Utah’s event winning streak with a win from Rainer Ng in the men’s event (49.54). Utah freshman Brandon Deckard followed up for second in 50.92 ahead of BYU junior Mckay King (52.20).
The Utes pulled the momentum back with a 1-2 finish by teammates Stina Colleou (1:05.19) and Brianna Francis (1:05.46) in the 100 Breast. BYU freshman Anna Dahl touched third in 1:06.41. On the men’s side, BYU’s Stephen Richards claimed a victory for the cougars (56.75) ahead of Utah freshman Jack Burton (57.17). BYU’s Michael King was third in 58.10.
In the women’s 200 Fly, Utah teammates Petra Soininen (2:04.90) and Madelynn Meisel (2:07.51) completed a 1-2 sweep for the Utes. The BYU freshman pair of Lillian Moore (2:07.52) and Vanessa Moffatt (2:12.55) followed up for third and fourth, respectively. Utah’s Bence Kiraly took his second event of the meet with a win in the men’s 200 Fly (1:50.37) and led a 1-2-3-4 Ute finish. His teammates Luis Macias (1:52.48), David Fraser (1:52.50) and Christopher Taber (1:53.72) followed up for second, third and fourth.
The Utes performed a 1-2-3 sweep in the women’s 50 Free, with Utah senior Madeline Jamora leading the charge in 23.88. Her teammates Giuliana Gigliotti (24.10) and Dorien Butter (24.34) took second and third, respectively. The Utah men responded with a similar sweep, taking first through fourth. Utah senior Nick Soedel took the top spot in 19.79 ahead of his teammates Alex Fernandes (20.87), Sean Bloore (21.44) and Alexander Brown (21.49).
Utah continued their domination of the sprint events with a 1-2-3 sweep in the women’s 100 Free. Ute Giuliana Gigliotti touched first in 52.48 ahead of teammates Dorien Butter (53.29) and Madeline Jamora (53.65). Utah’s Nick Soedel completed a sweep of the sprint events with a win in the men’s 100 Free (44.01) ahead of BYU’s Mckay King (46.88).
Ute teammates Amanda Barrett (2:02.17) and Megan Kawaguchi (2:06.00) claimed a 1-2 finish in the 200 Back. BYU’s Haley Bertoldo was third in 2:06.95. On the men’s side, BYU junior Jake Taylor took first in 1:48.32 ahead of Utah teammates Brandon Deckard (1:50.01) and Kristian Kron (1:51.08).
Utah sophomore Stina Colleou completed a sweep of the breaststroke events with a win in the 200 Breast (2:21.45) ahead of sophomore teammate Brianna Francis (2:22.67). BYU’s Hanna Skaggs touched third in 2:26.04. BYU’s Stephen Richards was another double event winner, taking his second win in the 200 Breast (2:04.04) ahead of Utah freshman Jack Burton (2:05.95).
Ute freshman Madelynn Meisel took home a win in the 500 Free (5:06.02) ahead of BYU freshman Vanessa Moffatt (5:10.75). One one-hundredth of a second behind for third was Utah freshman Kat Wickham (5:10.76). Bence Kiraly won his third event of the meet in the men’s 500 Free, touching in 4:37.35 ahead of teammates Peter Kotson (4:38.82) and Brandon Shreeve (4:41.84).
The Utes took another 1-2 finish in the 100 Fly, with teammates Melissa Paakh (56.13) and Petra Soininen (57.27) taking first and second, respectively. BYU sophomore Haley Bertoldo touched third in 57.47. On the men’s side, Utah senior Alex Fernandes took home the win for the Utes in the men’s event (48.86) ahead of teammate David Fraser (50.32). Just one tenth of a second behind was BYU’s Rainer Ng (50.43).
The Cougars took a 1-2-3-4-5 sweep in the women’s 200 IM, with the charge led by sophomore Ashlee Spindler (2:10.54). Her teammate Hanna Skaggs took second in 2:12.42. BYU’s Jake Taylor took the men’s event in 1:52.83 ahead of teammate Stephen Richards (1:53.83).
BYU finished off the meet with a win in the women’s 400 Free Relay (3:34.75) as well as in the men’s relay (3:08.03).
For full meet results, click here.