Lessons Aplenty at Opening Day of Big 12 West Championship

Friday, January 16

Tempe, AZ

All Day

University of Utah

Big 12 West Championship

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

Lessons Aplenty at Opening Day of Big 12 West Championship

1/16/2026 8:08 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

The Utes earned five podiums in the first day of action in Tempe

TEMPE, Ariz. – The University of Utah swim and dive program opened competition at the Big 12 West Championship on Friday, earning five podium finishes at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on the campus of Arizona State.

Both the men's and women's squads sit in fourth place following the opening day of competition. The men sit just five points outside of third place.

"This is a great learning moment for our team," head coach Jonas Persson said. "Different conditions with the meet being outside. Swimming against Big 12 teams is great prep for conference, but the men are down seven due to illnesses, which makes the meet very challenging. We keep the focus on the conference championships, and this is a great prep meet for that."

Erin Palmer led all Utah swimmers with 54 points thanks to a pair of third-place finishes in the 50 Free and 100 Breast and contributed to a sixth-place result in the 200 Free and 200 Medley relays and a seventh-place 400 Medley relay. Tegan Steinmetz added 40 points, Rylee McColley contributed 39 points and Julia Bartell logged 32 points to pace the women of Utah.

Strahinja Maslo led the Utah men with 36 points on the day thanks to a win in the 400 IM and a fifth-place result in the 200 Breast. Nolan Dunkel and Cole Bettis each contributed 25 points to the men's total.

Elias Petersen led all Utah divers with a fourth-place finish on the 1-meter springboard before helping lead the men's squad to a second-place result in the team event. Callie Eaglestone finished seventh on the 1-meter board, a spot ahead of freshman Annalise Shrader, to lead the Utah women before the two teamed with Cierra Cole to place fourth in team event.

"Today was a teachable day," head diving coach Richard Marschner said. "We didn't perform terribly well for our standards, but it's not because we didn't want it, it's not because we didn't try, it's not because we couldn't, we were just lacking a little bit of confidence in what we were doing. We came back stronger in the team events so I expect us to keep going forward like that. We're gaining confidence, we're doing the right things, and this is a good time to have a bad meet so we can learn something about what we can do and fix those things going forward. I'm confident we'll be where we need to be.

In the Pool
Utah swimmers logged four of the Utes' five podiums on Friday.

Maslo earned Utah's lone gold medal of the day, finishing first in the men's 400 IM with a 3:50.59. Ella Derby led the way for the Utah women in the event, clocking a 4:24.06 to place ninth.
Isabella Riso took third in the women's 200 Free with a 1:49.61 swim.
Palmer placed third in the women's 100 Breast, touching the wall in 1:01.30 to claim her fourth podium in the event this season. She nabbed another third-place finish in the evening session, recording a 22.67 in the 50 Free.
Megan Legarth placed fourth in the women's 100 Back, logging a 56.10, and Rylee McColley took fourth in the 200 Breast, touching in 2:15.03.
Bettis finished fourth in the 200 Breast with a 1:59.04, one spot ahead of Maslo and his 1:59.45.
Evan VanBrocklin took fifth in the men's 100 Fly, clocking a 47.24, while Nolan Dunkel finished eighth with a 48.85.
Taylor Tomey paced the Utah women in the 500 Free, coming in fifth with a time of 4:58.18. Owen Carlsen clocked the men's fastest time in the event with a 4:27.19, finishing 11th.
Jakub Walter and Tim Rogersson placed fifth and sixth in the men's 200 Free, logging times of 1:37.84 and 1:37.86, respectively.
Finn Winkler took sixth in the men's 50 Free, recording a personal-best 20.17, while Davis Stachelek came in ninth with a 20.20.
Hayley Smith set a new personal best in a time trial of the 200 Free, touching the wall in 1:52.18.

On the Boards
Utah bounced back from a difficult morning session to place well in the team events in the evening.

Callie Eaglestone and Annalise Shrader finished seventh and eighth on the women's 3-meter springboard, scoring 251.35 and 242.40, respectively, to lead the women of Utah.
On the men's 1-meter board, Elias Petersen finished fourth with a 319.10 and Attila Bernatsky placed eighth with a 281.20 list score.
The men's squad took second in the team event, as Petersen, Bernatsky and Alex Just scored a 311.30. The women's team of Eaglestone, Shrader and Cierra Cole placed fourth with a 243.30 total.

Up Next
Utah will wrap up the Big 12 West Championship on Saturday, Jan. 17. Competition is slated to begin at 10 a.m. MT.

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.