Ute Sports Briefs

Swimming

Utah’s swim team entered the weekend against Denver hoping to make more of a stand against the nationally-ranked team than last year.

The women’s team lost to the Pioneers 163-137 a year ago, but this time pulled out a convincing victory of 167-132.

“Denver beat us pretty solid last year,” said head coach Greg Winslow in a press release. “For the women to go out and dominate like they did, it’s definitely a step forward to where we want to be at the end of the year.”

The women dominated the 400-yard medley relay, taking first and second in the event. Whitney Lopus was on the No. 1 team and added three more first-place finishes in the 200-yard fly, the 500 free and the 400 free relay.

Hannah Caron and Annie VanLeeuwen took the first two places in the 200 free and Maiya Otsuka and Chelsea Peterson tied for second place in the 100 breaststroke, just a tenth of a second behind the first-place finisher.

The men’s team had a good showing, despite eventually falling 175-123 to Denver. They had multiple second-place finishes, including the 400 medley relay and Eric Bonicelli in the 1000 free. In their last event, the 400 free relay, the men had an exciting come-from-behind finish to place No. 1 by a few tenths of a second.

Utah divers jumped onto the score board when Anna Braskiewicz placed No. 1 and Kwan Ling Yu, No. 2 in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive competitions.

The Utah women swimmers are now 6-0 on the season, while the men are 0-3. The swim team will travel to Las Vegas to compete against UNLV on Nov. 15.

Whitney O’Bannon

Cross Country

The Utah cross country team emerged from Mission Bay Park in San Diego, Calif., with a third-place finish in the 6K race of the Mountain West Conference Championship.

This was a significant improvement for the Utes compared to previous seasons, as they placed No. 5 in last year’s MWC Championship.

Despite the impressive overall finish, it was not enough to overtake New Mexico and BYU, who came in No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Both New Mexico and BYU had four of their runners finish in the top 10.

The only Ute to finish in the top 10 was Alyssa Abbott. In a performance that earned her first team all-conference accolades, Abbott placed No. 4 overall, with a time of 21:37.

Another Ute with a notable performance Saturday was Chelsea DiGrazia. Her finishing time of 22:01 was enough for her to be named second team all-conference, as she finished No. 13 overall.

Janett Ern was the final runner for the Utes to come in under the top 20 as she finished at No. 18 overall in 22:22. Although it wasn’t a personal best for Ern, it’s the first time Ern finished inside the top 20 at the MWC Championships.

“Our runners have done everything in their power to be all they can be this year,” said head coach Kyle Kepler in a press release. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The next test for the Utes will be in one week when they head to Fort Collins, Colo., for the NCAA Mountain Regional.

James Boehly

Golf

The Utah golf team wraps up its Fall Schedule this week and dodges the cold by playing in the University of Hawaii Kauai Invitational today and Tuesday.

The trip will be a good way to end the first half of what’s been a fairly rough season. The Utes have cracked the top 10 once this season and are starting to think about the future of the young team. The guys have the talent to play at the collegiate level, but lack experience.

Last week the Utes finished at No. 14 in the Herb Wimberly Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M. The highlight for the Utes was senior golfer Chance Cota, finishing in a tie for No. 12.

Following the Kauai Invitational, the Utes will take a few months off, returning to the links in March for the San Diego State Baron Cup. Their Spring Schedule is two tournaments shorter than the Fall Schedule because they will be rusty coming off of the winter break. The only semi-home tournament they will be playing in is the Cougar Classic at Riverside Country Club in Provo.

The tournament results for the Utes this season are: No. 14 at the Gene Miranda Invitational, No. 13 at the Ron Moore Invitational, No. 12 at the William H. Tucker Invitational, No. 9 at the Desert Classic and No. 14 at the Herb Wimberly Invitational.

Marco Villano

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