Road Meet Against Rebels on Tap for Utah Swim & Dive

Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics

Road Meet Against Rebels on Tap for Utah Swim & Dive

11/3/2023 8:13 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Utes look to bounce back during dual meet with UNLV

SALT LAKE CITY – A slew of invitationals are on the horizon for the University of Utah swimming and diving team, but first, the Utes will try and take care of business in another dual meet, this one with the UNLV Rebels on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT (1 p.m. MT) at the Jim Reitz Pool in Las Vegas.

The Rebels will have the opportunity to avenge a pair of defeats they suffered in Salt Lake City in the fall of 2022, when the Utah men claimed a 196-101 triumph and the Ute women's squad captured a 193-105 victory. UNLV came out on top when these squads last met in Las Vegas in the fall of 2021.

In the Pool
Three of Utah's victors against UNLV in 2022 were Erin Palmer, Norah Hay and Jaek Horner and all three are also coming off top-notch showings in their team's last meet.

Against Arizona, Palmer collected triumphs in the 100 breaststroke and 50 freestyle and her victory in the former race represented the third time she's won that event in 2023-24. Hay added to her win total during the current campaign with first-place finishes in the 100 and 200 backstroke, while Horner took the top spot in the 100 and 200 breast. These were six of nine victories by Utah swimmers against the Wildcats, as Chloe Thompson, Cameron Daniell and Nick Chirafisi also took home first place finishes.

"I'm excited about Saturday," said head coach Jonas Persson. "I think we'll be a lot more competitive than last weekend. It's always a fun meet vs. UNLV and very competitive, but our team wants to win. I expect us to race hard with discipline and if they really want to win, then they'll get it done."

On the Boards
No one on the Utah roster had a more impressive performance against Arizona then freshman Emilia Nilsson Garip, who made her collegiate debut by winning both the 1m and 3m and posting scores that rank in the top 10 in program history in both events. She finished at the top of leaderboard in the 1m by crafting a total of 306.53, then won the 3m by a margin of more than 50 points with a mark of 344.48. Both of those scores put her third all-time in the school record book and surpassed the NCAA Championship qualifying standard.

Holly Waxman and Elias Petersen continued their strong starts to the year by putting together NCAA qualifying marks of their own. Waxman topped the NCAA benchmark in 1m by piling up 294.15 points, then crafted a score of 291.23 to accomplish the same feat in the 3m. Petersen finished with a total of 332.70 in the 1m, more than 30 points ahead of the qualifying standard. Waxman and Petersen have each posted qualifying scores in all three events they've competed in so far in 2023-24.

"UNLV is always a unique challenge," said head diving coach Richard Marschner. "This year, we're just going with quick travel plans, which will make it tough and the pool is a little different as well, but it offers us a good opportunity to dive in an adverse environment and see how we can push through and continue our process and see what kind of results we can come up with."

Looking Ahead
Utah's first two invitationals are up next, with the CMU Invitational set for Nov. 15-18 and the Texas A&M Invitational scheduled for Nov. 15-17.

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