Completed Event: Men's Swimming & Diving versus NCAA Championships on March 28, 2026 ,
Final Score
Men's Swimming & Diving
vs NCAA Championships
The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Swimming and Diving Gets Ready For Postseason
3/10/2009 12:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 10, 2009
THIS WEEK
The Utah women's diving team will be going to Austin, Texas this week to compete in the NCAA Zone Diving Championships, which begins Thursday. Seven of the top finishers in Austin will qualify for the NCAA National Diving Champion- ships in College Station, Texas. The Utah women's swimming team is preparing for the NCAA National Swimming Championships, also held in College Station. Both events will be held March 19-21.
LAST WEEK
The Utah swimming and diving team ended its regular season on Saturday at the Mountain West Conference Championships. The women's team finished fourth overall with 468.5 points and the men's team was sixth with 326 points.
Utah had three individual champions after the week. Whitney Lopus (Scottsdale, Ariz.) was the top finisher in the 100 fly with her time of 52.44. Lopus also was the champion in the 200 fly with her time of 1:55.52. Both times are MWC records in the respective events. Utah's other individual champion was Kwan Ling Yu (Yuen Long, Hong Kong) in the platform dive with her score of 247.60.
The Utes also broke seven Utah school records over the course of the championships, including Lopus' two MWC records. Hannah Caron (Raleigh, N.C.) broke the 200 IM school record that she set earlier in the season with her time of 2:00.55. John Baque (Olympia, Wash.) set a new record for the men in the 200 breast with his time of 1:59.20.
Utah relay teams broke three records in Oklahoma City. The women's relay team of Shannon McQueen (Ottawa, Ontario), Annie VanLeeuwen (West Valley City, Utah), Caron and Lopus set a new record in the 400 medley relay for the Utes with a time of 3:41.05. The women's 200 free relay team of Natalie Edge (South Jordan, Utah), VanLeeuwen, Kristina Evans (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Lopus also a set a new school record with their time of 1:31.91. The men's 800 free relay team broke the school record that was set last season. Marco Ferraro (Frenkendorf, Switzerland) returned from the record-setting team last season to help teammates Simon Oberholzer (Schaffhausen, Switzerland), Eric Murray (Woodstock, Ga.) and Adam Oliver (Colorado Springs, Colo.) beat the previous record with their time of 6:35.83.
Oliver was also honored with the MWC Senior Recognition Award. The award, voted on by the MWC coaches, is given to the senior that best exemplifies the standards of the MWC in and out of the pool.
UTE NOTES
"Our team is as prepared as they can be," said Utah diving coach Kelsey Patterson. "When they do what they have been training to do, they have as good a chance as anyone to place high.
The Utes will be sending three divers to Austin: Anna Braszkiewicz (Warsaw, Poland) qualified for both the 3-meter and 1-meter dive as well as Jessica Schenk (Park City, Utah). Yu will participate in both events as well as the platform dive.
"The women have waited for this all year," said Patterson. "This is the biggest meet of the year for them. This is the time to show that all their hard work over the season has paid off."
"It's exciting to have three divers competing in the zone Championships," said Utah head coach Greg Winslow. "We're enthusiastic about the progress they have made through the season on the boards. The fact that so many of the women qualified shows a big step forward for our diving program."
The Zone Diving Championships will be a three day event, with the 3-meter dive as the first event on Thursday. Friday will have the student-athletes compete in the 1-meter dive and Saturday will be the platform dive.
Editor's Note In a previous release concerning Utah's MWC All-Conference team members, Natalie Edge was omitted from the list of athletes by mistake. Edge was named to the team for performance in the 50, 100 and 200 free as well as her contributions to the 800, 200, and 400 free relay teams. This is the second season that Edge was named to the All-Conference team in the individual events.
NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
After this week, qualified divers will join Lopus in College Station on March 19. Lopus will be the lone swimmer representing Utah at the NCAA Championships.
"This is arguably the biggest meet of Whitney's life," said Winslow. "We're excited that she is representing Utah on the national stage."
Athletes are allowed to compete in a maximum of three events at the championships. Lopus will be competing in the100 and 200 fly as well as the 500 free. She is currently ranked 11th in the nation in the 200 fly with her time of 1:55.52, 18th in the 100 fly with a time of 52.44 and 27th in the 500 free with her time of 4:42.47.
"Freshmen don't usually do well in this meet due to the pressure involved. We'll see how Whitney handles it," said Winslow. "A perfect meet for her would be finishing in the top eight in her events."
Players Mentioned
IM/Fly/Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Diving
/ Men's Swimming & DivingHear It From Harlan with Utah Diving's Holly Waxman
Monday, April 22
Jaek Horner becomes the FIRST Ute on record to earn Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week two weeks in a row!
Wednesday, February 21
Good Luck to Swimming and Diving at the Pac-12 Championships
Tuesday, February 21
Utah Swimming and Diving Beats BYU in Dual Meet
Tuesday, January 24