Utah Relay Meet
- Friday, September 22nd
- Short course yards
- Ute Natatorium, Salt Lake City, UT
- Results
The Utah Utes won 13 out of 15 events at their relay exhibition meet against BYU on Friday, September 22nd. The meet is a Utah tradition meant to kick off the season with a fun competition. Most the relays swum at the meet are not events traditionally competed in.
The order of events was as follows:
- Women 150 fly relay
- Men 150 fly relay
- Women 150 back relay
- Men 150 back relay
- Women 150 breast relay
- Men 150 breast relay
- Women 400 free relay
- Men 400 free relay
- Women 500 free relay
- Men 500 free relay
- Mixed 200 medley relay
- Mixed 200 free diver relay
- Women 4 x 100 IM relay
- Men 4 x 100 IM relay
- Mixed 200 free relay
Utah was basically the same speed or faster in almost all the events than they were at this meet last year. Even though they won’t race in another 150 stroke or 500 free relay, it’s still a decent indicator that Utah’s team will be faster than it was last year.
The most notable performance from the Utah women came in the 400 free relay, where they went 3:28.24, which was 1.64 seconds faster than they swam at this meet last year. Dorien Butter (51.23), Ianire Casarin (51.95), Jordan Anderson (53.32), and Gillian St. John (51.74) made up that relay, with Casarin being the only swimmer not on the winning relay last year.
On the men’s side, the 150 back relay was the biggest performance, where the Utes went 1:07.15, over a second faster than last year’s 1:08.30. Paul Ungur led the relay off with an impressive September swim of 21.95, followed by Justin McArthur (also 21.95), and Cole Avery (23.25).
Utah only dropped the men’s 150 fly relay and mixed 200 diver relay to BYU. Although a 200 free relay doesn’t provide much insight into BYU’s diving skill, it does give them some fun bragging rights over Utah.
Utah Head Coach Joe Dykstra said he was “really pleased with the performance of the team”, adding that he specifically liked the energy on deck, as well as the supportive and cohesive nature of team. Coach Dykstra also stated that his team was “a lot faster” than they were at this meet last year, and that the depth of Utah’s recruiting over the past couple years is starting to show.
Utah’s next meet will be a Pac-12 match-up against Cal at the Ute Natatorium. The women will face Cal on Monday, October 9th at 3:30 p.m., and the men will be competing on Saturday, October 14th.
Update: Paul Ungur led off the 200 mixed medley relay in 21.69. His fastest 50 back last season was 21.35 at the Pac-12 Championships.