Utes Stand Tall against Tough Competition at UCLA

Saturday, January 10

Los Angeles, CA

All Day

University of Utah

UCLA

Utah Utes Swim vs. Hawaii at Ute Natatorium in Salt Lake City, Utah on Monday, December 22, 2025.
Doribel Buenrostro/Utah Athletics

Photo by: Doribel Buenrostro/Utah Athletics

Utes Stand Tall against Tough Competition at UCLA

1/10/2026 3:59 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Utah swimmers log six podiums while divers get a pair of top-six results

LOS ANGELES – The busy weekend for Utah swim and dive continued on Saturday as the women's swim team competed against UCLA, Iowa and UCSB in a quad meet while the men's and women's diving programs competed at the second day of the UCLA Diving Invite.

On the swimming front, the Utah women collected six podium finishes in the water at Spieker Aquatic Center. Erin Palmer led the way for the Utes, tying for second in the 50 Free and placing third in the 50 Breast.

"We had some nice swims today," head coach Jonas Persson said. "It was a challenging meet in many ways. Some stepped up and got the job done, while some had a harder time. Unfortunately we lost two meets that we should've won, but that should motivate the women to step up for the seven weeks we have left if the season."

On the boards, Elias Petersen and Kathryn Grant both finished in the top-six on their respective boards. Petersen placed fifth in the platform event while Grant led the Utah women with a sixth-place showing on the 3-meter springboard after winning on 1-meter yesterday.

"We had another strong day today and we're gaining some really valuable experience against top-flight competition," head diving coach Richard Marschner said. "Having four women in the top 13 of finals on 3-meter is incredible against this field. Annalise Shrader and Cierra Cole both hit personal bests and nearly earned their first zone cuts, which is extremely difficult to do at this meet, and Elias also set a PB on tower as he debuted 5253 and scored 75 points on it in finals. We have two very strong events tomorrow and I'm expecting that we will continue to show out well in LA."

In the Pool
Utah finished fourth out of the four teams in LA, but the Utes were still able to log six podium finishes.

Julia Bartell logged a personal best in the 50 Fly, touching the wall in 25.67 to place eighth.
Stephanie Oiesen logged a third-place finish in the 150 Back, clocking a 1:30.27.
Rylee McColley placed third in the 150 Breast at 1:40.83 while Teagan Steinmetz finished sixth with a 1:42.48.
Steinmetz also placed third in the 300 IM, logging a 3:17.85.
Erin Plamer tied for second in 50 Free skins, logging a 23.66. She finished one spot ahead of Bartell, who touched the wall in 23.98. Palmer also logged a 24.48 in the event.
Palmer placed third in the 50 Breast with a 29.33, two spots ahead of McColley's 29.91.
Isabella Riso came in fourth in the 150 Free, touching the wall in 1:22.07.
Sydney Even tied for fourth in the 150 Fly with a 1:31.15.

On the Boards
After two top-two results in Friday's competition, the Utes had another strong day on the boards.

Petersen led the way for the Utah men on platform, placing fifth with a 655.85 combined score between prelims and finals. Alex Just finished seventh with a 592.00 and Attila Bernatsky rounded out the Utes' lineup with a 548.70, placing tenth.
On the women's 3-meter, Grant scored a combined 567.00 to place sixth. Cierra Cole scored a 522.60 to place 11th, one spot ahead of Annalise Shrader's 522.50 and two ahead of Callie Eaglestone's 506.25. Sarah Kauffman scored a 225.00 in prelims.

Up Next
Utah diving will wrap up competition at the UCLA Diving Invitational on Sunday, Jan. 11, beginning at 11:30 a.m. The whole Utah swimming and diving program will reconvene for the Big 12 West Championships at Arizona State on Friday, Jan. 16.

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