Utah vs. Air Force

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, January 25. THE Utah men's swimming and diving team got its first win of the season Saturday at Ute Natatorium, defeating the Air Force Falcons, 157-143. The Ute women's team continued its successful season by beating the Falcons, 144-126.

"It feels great to put together a win for the men," said Utah head coach Greg Winslow. "I'm proud of them. We not only took first in events, but second and third in a few against a good Air Force team. That speaks volumes for our program."

The Utah men's team was lead to victory by seniors Adam Oliver (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and George Evans (Salt Lake City, Utah), as well as freshmen Eric Bonicelli (Overland Park, Kan.) and Eric Murray (Woodstock, Ga.). Oliver and Bonicelli started out the meet strong in the 1650 free. Oliver finished first in the event with a time of 16:17.36 and Bonicelli was second in a time of 16:31.97. Murray followed immediately in the 200 free by finishing first in a time of 1:42.36 with Marco Ferraro (Freberdorf, Switzerland) in second with at time of 1:43.60.

Simon Oberholzer (Schaffhausen, Switzerland) and Bonicelli both had top finishes in the 200 fly, coming from behind to finish first in with a times of 1:54.73 and 1:54.75, respectively.

Evans had a season-best time of 21.27 in the 50 free, finishing in first and recorded another first-place finish in the 100 free with a time of 46.66. Right behind him was Murray, finishing in second with at time of 47.76.

Oliver also won in the 500 free in a time of 4:41.21, while Bonicelli came in second at 4:45:69 and Ferraro took third in a time of 4:45.99

Murray put the finishing touches on the win for the Utes, finishing first in the meet's second-to-last event, the 200 IM, in a time of 1:56.73. Overall, the Utes claimed victory in 11 of 16 events for the day.

"The men are learning what it takes to win," said Winslow. "The team got excited when George and Eric [Murray] won and it got contagious and that excitement showed up in the pool."

The Utah women's team dominated in the pool, beating the Falcons in 14 of 16 events.

"I'm excited to see where our women will be next month for the Mountain West Conference Championships," said Winslow. "We've been training for this part of the season since the beginning and getting to the NCAA Championships. Right now, that is our sole focus."

The Utah women's diving team walked away with the top scores for the day in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Anna Braszkiewicz (Warsaw, Poland) finished in first in both, scoring 272.39 in the 1-meter dive and 288.90 in the 3-meter dive. Kwan Ling Yu (Yuen Long, Hong Kong) also had an impressive day, scoring 267.30 in the 1-meter and 270.68 in the 3-meter dives. Both qualified for the NCAA Zone Regional that will be held in March. Chelsi King (West Jordan, Utah) also had a stellar day, getting her career best in the 3-meter, scoring 249.15.

Both of Utah's swimming teams take the next week off to prepare to host rival BYU at the Ute Natatorium on Feb. 6.

Special thanks to Utah for contributing this report.

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