Meets with California, Stanford Get 2022-23 Season Started for Swim & Dive

Wednesday, October 12

Berkeley, CA

2:00 PM

University of Utah

California

Photo by: Xiangyao Tang

Meets with California, Stanford Get 2022-23 Season Started for Swim & Dive

10/10/2022 2:30 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Utes begin the year on the road against Golden Bears, Cardinal

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah swimming and diving team is ready to tear the lid off their 2022-23 schedule and their year begins with two meets in the Golden State, first squaring off against the California Golden Bears at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, Calif., followed by a clash with the Stanford Cardinal on Thursday in Stanford, Calif.

"The team's ready to go," said coach Jonas Persson. "I know they're really excited to get started and they've been training really hard. They're excited to see what they can do and we're excited as well. Our newcomers are probably a little bit nervous, but this will be a good experience for them."

This is the second straight season the Golden Bears and the Cardinal have been on the first teams on the docket for the Utes, but in the fall of 2021, Utah was at home to host Stanford on Oct. 15, then took on California on Oct. 22.

The Utes are preparing for their first full season under Persson, who officially earned the title of head coach on May 3 after finishing the 2021-22 campaign as the program's interim head coach following three years as the associate head coach. In the lead up to the start of his first year at the helm, Persson has set four main tenets for his team to follow.

"We tend to focus on four things: we try to do the right thing in any area, we work really hard, we want to win and also have fun," said Persson. "I think the team has been doing that pretty well. I feel like the pressure is on, not necessarily from us but from themselves because we've been working really hard, we've been embracing the change and now it's time to perform."

In the Pool
Persson takes over a program that includes a group of swimmers who spent the postseason rewriting the Utah record book. That process started on the opening night of the Pac-12 Championships, when the squad's 200-medley relay team, which included returners Andrei Ungur, Jaek Horner and Finn O'Haimhirgin, smashed the previous school best with a time of 1:23.87.

One day later, Ungur, Horner and O'Haimhirgin were part of a 400-medley relay group that shattered another Utah record. Soon after, Horner put his name atop the program leaderboard in the 100 breast by finishing in 52.69.

On the women's side, more than a dozen new entries were added to the Utah record book. Two of those marks belonged to Summer Stanfield, who moved into the top 10 in the 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley and who started her senior season by earning the title of Queen of the Pool during Utah's Sept. 16 intrasquad meet.

Norah Hay put together her best performance of the year at the conference meet, registering four personal bests, including the program's fifth-fastest time in the 200 backstroke and Maddie Woznick's time in Washington saw her put up two of the fastest times in Utah history in the 50 free and 100 free, as well as her best time in the 100 fly.

Ungur, Horner and O'Haimhirgin were also part of the team the Utes took the NCAA Championships, where the records continued to fall. On day one, this trio joined forces with Cooper deRyk to best the 200 medley relay record they had just set at the conference meet, this time posting a mark of 1.23.62.

On day two in Atlanta, Ungur reset the school-best in the 100 backstroke twice on the first day, breaking it the first time in his heat in 100 back, then eclipsing that time during the 400 medley relay, touching at 45.05. Ungur's effort, combined with that of Horner, O'Haimhirgin and Ben Waterman gave the Utes a relay time of 3:05.84, another all-time best for the Utes.

On the Boards'
The Utes closed out last season by taking their largest team ever to nationals and out of that group, Ben Smyth, Jenner Pennock and Holly Waxman have all returned, as has 2020-21 First-Team All-American and Pac-12 Diver of the Year Luke McDivitt. The task now is to try and replicate and surpass the successes from a year ago.

"We've got really high expectations," said diving coach Richard Marschner. "Hopefully we'll get a couple of Pac-12 Championships individually and team-wise from a diving-point perspective, our goal is score more points than anybody at Pac-12s. We had four people at the NCAA Championships last year and we want to at least have four or maybe five or six this year and we have the team to do it."

In his first year with Utah, Smyth put together a season that included a second-place finish on the platform at the Pac-12 Championships, while McDivitt finished just off the podium in fourth and Pennock posted a season-best score of 331.45 in prelims. The Temecula, California native would later best that mark by posting a score of 334.15 at NCAA Zones, which earned him a spot at the NCAA Championships and stands as the sixth-best mark in program history in that event.

Smyth took third-place on the tower at zones and earned spots at nationals on the platform and the 3-meter. He also put together the second-highest mark in program history at the Big Al Invite in December, posting a score of 398.75.

Waxman spent her first as a Ute piling up accomplishments that included being named Pac-12 Freshman Diver of the Year and earning the chance to compete in the 1-meter and 3-meter at nationals. Waxman already owns spots in the team record book in the 1m, 3m and platform and she capped off her year by recording Utah's second-highest finish ever on the 1-meter at the NCAA Championships.

"We're excited," said diving coach Richard Marschner. "The first month of the season is a lot of hard work, putting in a lot of work with conditioning and basics, so now we're just starting to get our optional dives in, which are the fun ones. We're excited to get going. It's pretty early, so not necessarily every dive is in yet, but we're working towards that."

Last Time Out
Utah's final exhibition competition took place on Sept. 23, when they traveled south for their annual relay meet against BYU and they were able to clinch six first place finishes.

Utah took the top three positions in the 200m mixed relay with O'Haimhirgin, JP Hynes, Woznick and Erin Palmer leading the pack. The Utes also swept all the podium places in the women's 3x150 butterfly, as Stanfield, Harper Lehman and Sydney Even took first, second, and third, respectively.

The 3x150 backstroke produced two more Utah wins, with Parker McOmber, Ungur and Holden Ellsworth taking first in men's and Charity Pittard, Krystal Lieu and Hilja Schimmel later following suit in women's.

Lily Milner, Woznick, Stanfield and Kayla Miller were able to take another No. 1 finish in the 500 free relay and Miller and Stanfield later joined forces with Schimmel and Pittard to clinch the last Utah win, which came in the women's 400 medley relay.

Looking Ahead
Utah's women's swimming and diving team will open up the program's home schedule on Oct. 28, when they welcome UCLA to the Ute Natatorium, while the men's squad will be back in action on Nov. 4 at home against UNLV.

Follow the Utes!
For fans of the Utah men's/women's swimming and diving programs, follow the Utes on Twitter (@UTAHswimdive), Instagram (@utahswimdive) and Facebook (@UtahUtesSwimDive).