TCU vs. Utah

FORT WORTH, Texas, January 10. COMPETING at home for the first time in over two months, the TCU swimming and diving team triumphed against Mountain West Conference powerhouse Utah Friday, as the men’s squad topped the Utes by a score of 145-92, while the women end the night knotted, 121.5-121.5. The women’s last home meet came against Colorado State on Nov. 7, while the men hadn’t had a home dual meet since facing BYU on Oct. 30.

“This was a very impressive night by both of our teams against one of the best programs in the conference,” TCU head coach Richard Sybesma said. “Our team has really swam well this week and I couldn’t be more proud of the way we looked against a tough team in Utah.”

The men’s squad was led by junior Josh Bagby and sophomore Edgar Peyro, as each contributed a pair of individual wins, while also competing in both TCU relay victories. Bagby, a Houston, Texas native, turned in his season-best time in the 100-free with a time of 45.87, while also pacing the field with his fourth victory in the 50-free of the year at 21.14, finishing ahead of freshman Jack Doran’s season-best time of 21.23. Bagby also anchored TCU’s winning 200-free relay, including newcomer Friedrich Grott, Doran and Ben Iannacone, at the end of the night, pulling away from the other squad’s at 1:25.41.

Peyro tacked on his second win in the 200-IM with a clocking of 1:54.37, followed closely by fellow Frog junior Ben Biefnes at 1:56.38 to finish in the top two spots. Peyro also earned a big win for the Frogs in the 200-breast with his top time of the season at 2:05.80. Peyro also helped get TCU on the board in the first event, alongside the freshmen trio of Laszlo Gyurko, Grott and Doran, to earn the 200-medley relay medal at 1:33.83.

Sophomore Jeff Gettel continued his dominance against the MWC in the 200-back, extending his unbeaten streak to five meets with at 1:51.50. From above, senior R.J. Hesselberg swept both diving events, tallying a 353.85 score from the three-meter spring board and 311.02 in the one-meter event. Sophomore Kyle Callens followed closely with both runner-up finishes.

On the women’s side, sophomore Maria Paula Alvarez stole the show by breaking the TCU 1000-free record for the second time in the week. After topping her own mark by nearly three second at 10:11.64 at UNLV Tuesday, the Cali, Colombia native shaved off more time with a lifetime-best clocking of 10:08.80 Friday. The newest record marks Alvarez’ fourth time to break the school record and third occurrence of the season. Her performance against the Utes ranks fourth all-time in MWC history.

Alvarez also led the way during the 500-free, picking up her fifth medal in the event by hitting the wall at 5:00.05, ahead of TCU freshman Kaitlyn Vann, who claimed runner-up honors at 5:09.12.

Freshman Ashley Bolin picked up a pair of wins for the fourth time in the last five dual meets for TCU. She excelled in the 200-IM with a personal-best time of 2:06.96, and followed that performance with another career-best in the 100-free at 51.75. Tied with Alvarez for the team lead in wins, Bolin has picked up her 11 victories for the season in six different events.

Junior Stephanie Futscher, TCU’s wins leader from a year ago, earned her third 200-fly medal of the season in 2:03.82, topping her previous career-best time of 2:04.06. Freshman Jennifer Oster followed behind Futscher with her personal-best clocking of 2:06.62. Also turning in the best time of her career, sophomore Brittany Martinez finished ahead of the field in the 200-back at 2:03.75.

Junior diver Jennifer Ferguson contributed her eighth win of the year, taking top honors in the one-meter springboard with a season-best scorecard of 274.86.

The women’s relay squads also swam well Friday, finishing in the 2-3 positions in both races. The 200-medley team of Macy Zander, Ellie Bradley, Oster and Zrinka Korac came .4 of a second from earning TCU’s first win of the night, while the 200-free relay quartet of Bolin, Zander, Vann and Korac ended the night by helping to solidify the Frog’s tie score with the Utes.

Special thanks to TCU for contributing this report.

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