Utah Swim Completes Day 1 at Colorado Mesa

10/4/2024 10:39 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Both Utah women and Utah men currently sit in third overall

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The University of Utah Swim team collected five first place standings and six silver medals at day one of the Intermountain Shootout in the El Pomar Natatorium on Friday evening.

"It was our first meet, so it's always a mixed bag of swimming, but that's what we expect," said head coach Jonas Persson, "We had some highlights, but we also had some things we need to work on. I think overall we're in a good spot, we are figuring stuff out and communicating with our athletes to know what we need to do better."

The first gold for the Utes came from sophomore Jakub Walter during the 200-yard freestyle, with freshman Nolan Arnholt coming in just behind him for the third-place spot, they touched the wall at 1:39.75 and 1:41.21 respectively. On the women's side in the same race, Junior Lily Milner came in at 1:53.14 for a second-place standing.

"There's certainly a few people who standout, who got some nice wins today," said Persson. "It's especially nice to see our freshmen and transfers get back to competing and knowing where they're at and how they react to our training."

Freshman Marshall Odom started his collegiate career off with a standout swim, earning the gold in the 50-free at 20.46.

Utah then collected second through seventh in the 200-yard IM on the men's side, starting with junior Evan VanBrocklin with a 1:51.27 in second starting in second place and freshman Strahinja Maslo in third with 1:51.74.

Junior Erin Palmer was Utah women's first gold medalist of the season with a 1:02.75 in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching the wall just before silver-medalist Rylee McColley, 1:03.22. Palmer and McColley followed up that performance with another gold and silver duo, but this time in the 200-yard breast. Palmer touched the wall first at 1:02.75 with McColley out-touching a BYU swimmer for silver with 1:03.22.

Bringing in some points for the men's team, graduate student Park McOmber took bronze in the 100-yard back with a 50.36 and on the women's side senior Norah Hay was the first of five Utes to place in the top 10, coming in third with a 57.24.

The flyers did their part with Walter and VanBrocklin coming back for silver and bronze in the 200-yard fly, and sophomore Abby Pope hopped onto the 3^rd place podium with a 2:07.68. Moving on to the 200 IM, sophomore Ella Derby clocked in at 2:06.31 for second, quickly followed by sophomore Teagan Steinmetz at 2:07.76.

Closing out the meet with a bang, junior Chloe Thompson won the 1000-yard free after a standout swim, 10:23.57, in the second heat brought her the gold.

"Overall, this was a positive day for us, but I'm still hoping tomorrow is better," said Persson. "Traveling a long day and then competing is hard, sometimes you do better with a nice rest, but sometimes you do worse, so it'll be a good test for our athletes."

Looking Ahead
Utah's next challenge will be against Big 12 conference rivals, the Arizona Wildcats, in Tucson, Ariz. on Oct. 25-26.

Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @UTAHswimdive | Instagram: @utahswimdive | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahUtesSwimDive), and the official mobile app of Utah Athletics, Utah360 -- download here.