Big 12 Championships Close with a Pair of Medals

Saturday, February 28

Greensboro, NC

All Day

University of Utah

Big 12 Conference Championships

Utah Utes Swim vs. Colorado Mesa at Ute Natatorium in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday, October 31, 2025.
Doribel Buenrostro/Utah Athletics

Photo by: Doribel Buenrostro/Utah Athletics

Big 12 Championships Close with a Pair of Medals

2/28/2026 9:02 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Chirafisi takes gold, 400 Free Relay nabs bronze to close conference meet

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The University of Utah swim and dive program wrapped up competition at the 2026 Big 12 Conference Championships on Saturday night, bringing home a pair of medals.

Nick Chirafisi nabbed his second gold medal of the championships with a stellar showing in the 1650 Free while the men's 400 Free relay earned the bronze medal.

"We finished the meet very strong with a conference champion and a third place on a relay on the men's side," head coach Jonas Persson said. "I was very happy how the men were able to finish strong and get the job done and they really solidified the third place. We're only gonna get better next year, so I'm excited.

"On the women's side, we had a pretty decent last day and put down some nice personal bests. We're happy with our efforts and how we were able to hold our own for the meet."

The Utah men's program placed third out of seven teams with 1305 points, battling with second-place Arizona the entire week, while the women's squad finished seventh of 10 teams with 693 points.

In the lone diving event of the day, Kathryn Grant and Callie Eaglestone reached women's platform finals to wrap up a stellar week for head diving coach Richard Marschner's program.

"We didn't have the perfect ending we were hoping for you, but I can't overstate how proud I am to be Kathryn and Callie's coach, and this whole team in general put on an absolute show," head diving coach Richard Marschner said. "Sometimes winning championships takes a little bit of luck, but it doesn't take luck being in the final time after time after time and giving yourself an opportunity to compete for that, and we really did that the whole week. That says something about the team and who we are than the occasional win because we just show up every time.

"I'm so proud of what they did. We still have more to go we've got zones coming up and hopefully NCAAs after that. We're not done yet and I think the best is yet to come."

Prelims
18 players reached finals on Saturday morning.

Stephanie Oiesen and Megan Legarth both advanced to bonus finals in the women's 200 Back.
In the men's race, Brandon Miller and Nash Hale both made it through to consolation finals, while Mattthew Sexton, Nolan Dunkel and Winston Sundeen made it to bonus finals.
Isabella Riso paced the Utah women in the 100 Free, placing 15th to reach consolation finals and Erin Palmer made bonus finals. Similarly, Davis Stachelek reached consolation finals and freshman Tim Rogersson made bonus finals.
Rylee McColley led the way in the 200 Breast, reaching consolation finals, while Ella Derby and Teagan Steinmetz secured spots in bonus finals. For the men, Caleb Gallagher and Strahinja Maslo both reached consolation finals.
Grant and Eaglestone both reached finals on platform.

Finals
A gold and a bronze capped off a strong week in Greensboro.

Chirafisi claimed his second gold of the week in the 1650 Free, touching in 14:52.65. Jones Lambert finished seventh, going 15:14.01, while Quinn Jones added a top-10 finish with a 15:15.36.
Hale and Miller touched the wall back-to-back, clocking a 1:43.65 and a 1:43.68 to finish 12th and 13th in the 200 Back.
Riso clocked a 49.94 to finish 14th in consolation finals of the 100 Free while Palmer placed 17th with a 49.69.
In the men's race, Stachelek timed a 44.18 to place 16th.
McColley placed 16th in the 200 Breast with a 2:14.64, while Derby's 2:14.69 was second in bonus finals. For the men, Gallagher clocked a 1:56.66 to place 12th and Maslo claimed 15th with 1:57.36.
Eaglestone placed fifth overall on platform with a 240.05 list score, two spots ahead of Grant and her 229.45.
The 400 Free relay team of Evan VanBrocklin, Rogersson, Finn Winkler, and Stachelek won bronze with a 2:53.45 swim in a race where Arizona State set the NCAA record.

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.