Air Force vs. Utah

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, January 22. THE University of Utah swimming and diving team hosted Air Force at the Ute Natatorium on Saturday morning. The Ute women overcame the Falcons by a score of 155 to 120 while the men fell by a score of 152 to 142.

"It was really good to see what we need to change in order to recover after a night meet to be emotionally and physically ready to go the next morning," head coach Greg Winslow said. "It was nice to have a victory over the Air Force women today as we got to do some fun events and split up the relays a little bit. It made for some good races."

Utah women swept the top three spots in the 200 medley relay, led by the group of Alyssa Woodliff, Samantha Zuch, Sarah Boylen, and Natalie Edge (1:47.23). Nicole Ligeza, Sarah Cox, Kristina Evans, and Zuch brought home the win in the 400 free relay as well (3:35.69).

Edge also topped the 200 free and the 200 breast with times of 1:53.75 and 2:28.21, respectively. Zuch also had a double win in the 1650 free (17:49.76) and the 100 breast (1:06.34) while Chardonnay Biter-Mundt touched in first in the 50 free (24.84) and the 100 free (53.19).

"We didn't recover as well but we did a good job of getting into the meet today," Evans admitted about rebounding from Friday night's meet.

Evans earned the runner-up spot in the 200 fly with a lifetime best time of 59.68. She explained that "it was interesting to get my rhythm going even though it's the same distance and intensity" as her usual freestyle event.

Other victories for the Ute women include the 200 back by Traycie Swartz (2:08.14), the 100 back by Hannah Caron (58.86), and the 400 IM by Maiya Otsuka (4:59.58). Ellis Walters topped both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives with scores of 270.90 and 268.65, respectively.

For the men, Nelson Foo, Michael Glasson, and Caleb Herrick earned the top three spots in the 1-meter dive with respective scores of 280.50, 267.53, and 257.78. Foo also placed first in the 3-meter dive (302.48) with Brandon Stoppelmoor right on his tail (302.25). Herrick rounded out the top three again (255.75).

The Ute men were led by Brent Murray who earned wins in the 50 free (21.45), the 200 back (1:52.73), and kicked off the winning 400 free relay with Gunnarsson, Andy Lamb, and Garret Beaman (3:06.32).

"If you're tense while you're swimming you get tired really fast so you want to stay relaxed yet powerful in your strokes and especially so in your turns," Murray said. "If I didn't take an ice bath last night, my legs would have been really tired today."

Eric Bonicelli also contributed a win in the 400 IM (4:14.03) but was beat by microseconds in the 200 fly (1:53.95) by Benjamin Gunn as the two finished nearly neck and neck. Major Robinson also had a close second-place finish in the 100 back (52.66), barely out touched by Matt Millikin.

A few strong runner-up performances by the Ute men include Bonicelli in the 400 free (4:50.07), Lamb in the 100 free (48.21), Karson Applin in the 100 fly (51.59), and Garrett Peterson in the 100 breast (59.10) and 200 breast (2:11.34).

"Being a young team, a lot of times we think our bodies are invincible but there is a toll," Winslow said. "We are just fine-tuning some things as we get ready for UNLV next week."

Next, the Utes will head south to battle the UNLV Rebels on Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. at Buchanan Natatorium in Las Vegas.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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