Utah Battles in Home Finale

Saturday, January 31

Salt Lake City, UT

10:00 AM

University of Utah

127

173

SMU

Photo by: University of Utah Athletics

1/31/2026 1:49 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Utes put up fast times but come up just short against SMU

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah swim and dive program wrapped up the home portion of its schedule with on Saturday as both the men's and women's teams fell to SMU in Don Reddish Pool at Ute Natatorium.

The women's team earned four gold medals in a narrow 161-133 defeat while the men's side took home seven first-place results in a 173-127 result.

"We got challenged really well, which we needed," head coach Jonas Persson said. "Some people stepped up, some people had a harder time, but that's normal in the season where we are at. I think we learned a lot about what we can improve on next week against BYU and heading into the conference championships. Overall, we have a lot of positives from today."

Hayley Smith led the Utah women with 18 points on the day thanks to wins in the 500 and 100 Free and Erin Palmer added 13 points on a first-place result in the 100 Breast and a second-place finish in the 100 Free. On the men's side, Nick Chirafisi also won gold in the 500 and 1000 Free to lead the way with 18 points while Evan VanBrocklin added 14 points thanks to a gold in the 200 Fly and a bronze in the 100 Free.

On the diving boards, Utah was led by senior captains Elias Petersen and Kathryn Grant. Grant took gold on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards while Petersen won on 1-meter for the fourth time this season.

"I just want to say thank you to Elias and Kat, they're pillars of the program, you can always count on them, and I'm just thankful to have been their coach," head diving coach Richard Marschner said following the Senior Day meet. "We're going to build on today's meet and that's what I'm excited to see. I would rather us have a day like today now than later, and I think we're going to be better off at Zones and NCAAs because of that."

In the Pool
The Utes came out on top in eight events Saturday to cap off the home slate.

VanBrocklin won gold in the men's 200 Fly, clocking a 1:46.59. The senior also took bronze in the 100 Free with a 44.69.
Tim Rogersson earned his first collegiate win in the 50 Free, touching the wall in 21.06.
Utah swept both the men's and women's 1000 Free. Smith, Ellie Broughton and Taylor Tomey placed one-two-three on the women's side and Chirafisi, Owen Carlsen and Quinn Jones followed that up with a podium sweep themselves.
Smith picked up her second gold of the day in the women's 500 Free, going 4:58.21. Chirafisi took gold for the second time in the men's race, touching in 4:26.19, while Nolan Arnholt's 4:31.10 was good enough for bronze.
The Utah men swept the 100 Fly. Nolan Dunkel took gold at 48.10, Jackson Kehler won silver with a 48.36, and Sebastian Wrona placed third with a 49.41.
Palmer placed second in the 100 Free, touching in 50.13.
Arnholt placed second in the men's 200 Free with a 1:37.74 and was joined on the podium by Rogersson, who took third at 1:38.44. Isabella Riso took third in the women's race, touching the wall in 1:51.86.
Dunkel placed second in the men's 100 Back at 47.28, while Kindsey Joyce took silver in the women's race with a 56.61.
Durgan McKean won silver in the men's 100 Breast, touching the wall in 55.36.
Teagan Steinmetz took silver in the 200 Breast at 2:16.75, beating out Broughton's 2:23.77 third-place time. Strahinja Maslo placed third in the men's race at 2:03.34.
Similarly, Megan Legarth and Stephanie Oiesen placed second and third in the women's 200 Back, clocking 2:04.09 and 2:04.33, respectively. Brandon Miller won bronze in the men's race, recording a 1:46.14.
Steinmetz also took silver in the women's 200 IM, touching the wall in 2:05.39.
Paige Korbely finished second in the 100 Fly, logging a personal-best 56.13.
Sophia Cerimele came in third in the women's 200 Fly, logging a 2:06.41.
The men's 200 Medley relay team of Dunkel, Caleb Gallagher, Kehler and Davis Stachelek took gold with a 1:27.77.

On the Boards
Led by its senior captains, Utah won gold in three of the four diving events.

Petersen won on the men's 1-meter springboard with a 325.13 total. Grant came out on top in the women's competition, taking gold with a 295.28 total
The women of Utah swept the 3-meter springboard competition. Grant won gold again with a 281.48 list score, Emilia Nilsson Garip took second with a 278.33, and Cierra Cole won bronze with a collegiate-best 273.08.
Petersen logged his second podium of the day on the 3-meter, scoring 292.73 to place third.

Super Seniors
Utah Swim and Dive honored its ten graduating seniors with a senior day ceremony on Saturday morning. The 2026 class – Elias Petersen, Evan VanBrocklin, Davis Stachelek, Jackson Kehler, Brandon Miller, Sydney Even, Julia Bartell, Megan Legarth, Kathryn Grant and Erin Palmer – have contributed 25 top-10 marks in the program record book, including 10 school records.

"It's special that I've had this group for four years, it's the first senior class that has gone through all four years with me," Persson said. "They're going to be missed, but I'm most excited to see what they're going to do next. I'm thankful for what they've contributed to this program. It's a great group of guys and girls."

Up Next
Utah is back in action on Friday, Feb. 6, at 5 p.m. when they make the short drive south for the rivalry meet against BYU. Both the men's and women's teams outscored BYU when the two sides last saw one another at the Big 12 West Championship earlier this month.

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.