Utes Log Multiple B Cuts, Top 10 Times in College Station

Photo by: Axe Tang

Utes Log Multiple B Cuts, Top 10 Times in College Station

11/21/2024 10:47 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Second day at CMU, Art Adamson Invites in the books for Utah swim & dive

SALT LAKE CITY – For a second straight day, the University of Utah swim team had student-athletes competing at the Art Adamson Invitational inside the Texas A&M Natatorium in College Station, Texas and at the Colorado Mesa Invitational at the El Pomar Natatorium in Grand Junction, Colo., and Friday's swimming yielded four top three finishes, two NCAA B- cuts, seven times new additions to the Utah record book and a long list of new personal and season-bests.

"We had another good day today," said coach Jonas Persson. "We are learning a lot about our athletes and how they race and what they need and overall, I'm very pleased with the process and the great meet we're having."

Art Adamson Invitational

Finals

The best showing of the day for the Utes came from Nick Chirafisi and Jakub Walter in the men's 200 free. Chirafisi grabbed the top spot with a mark of 1:35.16, which also goes into the Utah record book as the sixth-fastest time in that event school history and surpassed the NCAA B cut benchmark.
Right behind his teammate was Walter, who grabbed second by finishing in 1:35.39, improving on a personal best time that already ranked inside the top 10 in the Utah record book.
Also logging a top three finish as well as a new top 10 time for Utah was Evan VanBrocklin, who reached the finish line in 47.01 in the 100 fly to place third and move into possession of sixth place on Utah's all-time leaderboard in that discipline.
Strahinja Maslo earned a place on the podium thanks to a mark of 3:48.92, which also qualifies as an NCAA B cut in the 400 IM, and that time puts him sixth in Utah's record book.

Best Times, Cuts and Records

Riley McColley put her name in the program's record book by reaching the finish in the 100 breast in 1:01:56, the sixth-fastest time in Utah history.
Ella Derby put herself in ninth on the program's all-time leaderboard by clocking in at 4:18.87 in the women's 400 IM.
Baylor Lewis improved on what was already the sixth-fastest time ever by a Ute in the 400 IM, this time finishing in 3:50.96.

Utah's men's squad sits in second place in the overall standings with 591 points, trailing only Texas A&M, while the women's team has 373 points and is in fourth.

"Tomorrow's going to be a very important day for us," said Persson, "especially the men's side, as we're in a fight with TCU for second place. I'm hoping the guys will step up and get a job done. I hope the women continue their nice momentum and keep on improving and embracing the positive culture that we have."

Colorado Mesa Invitational

Utah's day in Grand Junction included a slew of personal and seasons bests, including Hayley Smith's time of 4:57.95 in the 500 free prelims, her quickest time of the season and good enough to send her through to the A final.
Milla Ruthven, at 5:02.91, and Claire Dafoe, at 5:07.37, also improved on their best 500 free times of 2024-25.
In the men's 500 free prelims, Oskar Farkas took third to move into the A final and his mark of 4:32.32 was a new personal best, as was Jake Baker's 4:39.13. Baker then proceeded to best that time in the evening, reaching the finish in 4:38.17.
Hilja Schimmel's season-best time of 2:09.45 in the women's 200 IM put her in the B final, where she finished in 2:07.78, and another season-best was produced by Anelise Hedges in the 200 IM, as she touched the wall in 2:10.31.
Gannon Flynn's season-best of 1:54.51 earned him a place in the men's 200 IM B final.
In the women's 50 free prelims, Sofia Carlson moved into the B final and posted a season-best of 24.16, then was even faster in the final, clocking in at 23.91.
The men's 50 free, Colin Parker pushed his way into the B final with a season-best mark of 20.76, then topped that in the final with a time of 20.69. CJ Sorensen picked up a place in the C final and Jonathan Michaels recorded his season-best time of 21.99.

"Overall, things are good here," said assistant coach Jordan Taylor. "Everyone is in good moods and having fun, supporting each other. Highlights from today would be Hayley Smith swimming her best in the 500 free and beating the girls at Texas A&M. Jake Baker swam a best time in prelims and another best time tonight in the 500. Our 200 IM's were solid and had some good aspects that are positive for future races.

"In the 50 free, Sophia Carlson swam her second-best time ever. Our boys had good finals swims in the 50 free. Colin Parker was able to beat some of the swimmers at A&M, so he was happy about that. Relays tonight had a mix of sprinters and distance swimmers and everyone swam faster than they thought, so that was positive as well."

Looking Ahead
The Utes will be back in action in both College Station and Grand Junction on Friday. The events on the docket at the Art Adamson Invitational include the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 free relay, while the Colorado Mesa Invite will feature the 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 400 medley relay.

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.