Utah Swimming Has Top Notch Day at Pac-12 Championships

Friday, March 8

Federal Way, WA

University of Utah

Pac-12 Swimming Championships

Photo by: Chuck Arelei

Utah Swimming Has Top Notch Day at Pac-12 Championships

3/9/2024 12:38 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving

Results

Six top 10 times posted, 14 Utes reach finals

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Brandon Miller shattered the program record in the 400 IM and five more Utes put together swims that cracked the program's all-time top 10 as the University of Utah men's swimming team competed on day three of the Pac-12 Men's Swimming Championships at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.

"It was a great day today," said coach Jonas Persson. "We had a school record and an A final and a lot of personal bests. I'm very proud of how we swam today and how we got into the scoring finals at night and we were able to swim faster in finals as well."

Miller topped the previous program best during prelims, clocking in at 3:43.34, beating the mark of 3:45.77 recorded by Kristian Kron at the 2016 Pac-12 Championships. Miller's efforts also earned him a spot in the B final, where his time of 3:43.38 tied him for first.

Two more Utes were not far behind Miller in the 400 IM, starting with Evan VanBrocklin, who also took part in the B final and finished in 3:46.64, third-quickest in school history, and Baylor Lewis' prelim mark of 3:48.82 ranks sixth-best by a Ute and also put him in the B final. Nathan Ramey's preliminary time of 3:51.75 allowed him to move on the 400 IM C final, where he placed second.

In the 100 breaststroke, Jaek Horner continued his fantastic season by swimming his way into the A final with a 52.25 preliminary time. That finish put him seventh in prelims, but he jumped up to fifth in the final, touching the wall in 51.85, less than a half-second off his program record. Two more Utes moved on to finals in the 100 breast, as Landon Nava reached the C final, where he landed in third with a mark of 53.58, putting him sixth on Utah's all-time leaderboard, and Landon Alarcon reached the finish in 55.81.

Also breaking into the top 10 for Utah were Nick Chirafisi in the 200 free, where he clocked in at 1:36.12, good enough for eighth all-time, and Jackson Kehler, who got the 400 medley relay started with a time of 48.09 in the 100 back, sliding him into the No. 10 spot. Chirafisi swam his way in the 200 free B final on Friday, while the C final was almost all Utes, as Kelson Flynn, Matthew Dedering, Kellen Cameron, Tomas Chocholaty, Jakub Walter and Davis Stachelek all competed, with Stachelek emerging victorious.

Utah's list of finalists also included Kehler, Marko Kovacic and Colin Parker in the 100 fly and Kovacic and Parker McOmber in the 100 back. The Utah quartet of McOmber, Horner, VanBrocklin and Will Woodall also all swam on the Utes' A relay team in the 400 medley relay and reached the end in 3:11.31.

Next Up
One more day of competition remains and the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 1650 free and 400 free relay are all on the docket.

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