SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. January 13. THE University of Utah women�s swimming and diving team defeated the New Mexico Lobos, 129-107 at Ute Natatorium Friday night. The Utes won nine of thirteen events, with the final three events being swam as exhibition, to improve to 4-1 overall, 3-0 MWC.
"It was nice to race again at home," said Head Coach Michael Litzinger. "It's nice to shake the cobwebs off before we face a very good TCU team tomorrow."
Utah jumped out to an early lead in the 400 medley relay with the �A� relay team of Leah Jensen, Ariane Kich, Meghan Demchuk and Shannon McQueen taking top honors with a time of 4 minutes, 00.41 seconds. The �C� relay team of Amy Barefield, Caitlin Tidwell, Amber Walter and Jennifer Fredsall placed second (4:02.70), followed by Utah�s �B� team of Marissa Martin, Adrienne Coburn, Alison McInturff and Amber Walker in third place (4:04.87).
In the 1000 free, Rachael Curci and Meghan Fleisch finished first and second, respectively, to help increase Utah�s lead over the Lobos. Curci finished in 10 minutes, 42.65 seconds, while Fleisch posted a time of 11 minutes, 08.67 seconds. Curci also won the 500 free with a time of 5 minutes, 14.16 seconds.
Coburn posted a second place finish in the 200 free with a time of 2 minutes, 00.11 seconds. Jennifer Trescott (2:01.53) and Michelle Blair (2:01.61) finished third and fourth, respectively, to follow Coburn.
Fredsall took top honors in the 50 free with a time of 25.26 seconds, to edge out Jenna Syverson of New Mexico who finished with a 25.39 mark. Utah�s Walker (25.52) and Jensen (25.74) finished third and fourth in the event. Fredsall also won the 100 free (54.95), with Walker placing second with a time of 55.61 seconds.
In the 200 IM, McInturff placed first with a time of 2 minutes, 10.19 seconds, followed by Kich�s 2 minute, 16.51 seconds second-place time. Demchuk won the 200 fly with a time of 2 minutes, 09.52, while Blair placed third in the event with a time of 2 minutes, 11.70 seconds. In the 200 back, McQueen took top honors and Jensen placed third with times of 2:08.20 and 2:15.68, respectively.
In the 1-meter diving event, junior Kelsey Patterson finished first with a score of 312.22 points, 29.1 points ahead of second place. Freshman Anna Braszkewiecz placed third with 246.30 points.
Utah competed in the 3-meter diving, 200 breast and 400 free relay events as an exhibition event
The Utah men�s and women�s teams are back in action tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Ute Natatorium when they take on the Horned Frogs of TCU.