PROVO — The American Volleyball Coaches Association released its 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll on Wednesday afternoon, with the Cougars ranked No. 9 headed into their season opener this Friday.

BYU will be hosting four of the top-10 teams in Provo this season, including UC Irvine, Grand Canyon, Stanford and reigning national champion UCLA. In the 2023 season, the Cougars accomplished a perfect 14-0 home record and 19-7 overall record and headed into their season unranked in last year’s preseason poll.

The Cougars bring back outside hitter Miks Ramanis who was named an All-America honorable mention by the AVCA in its 2023 awards, his first honor from the AVCA. Ramanis was also named First Team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 2023. Middle blocker Gavin Julien was named All-MPSF Honorable Mention and Trent Moser was named to the 2023 MPSF All-Freshman Team. Both Julien and Moser return for the 2024 season.

2024 AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll

Rank School 2023 Record

1 UCLA 31-2

2 Long Beach State 21-5

3 Hawaii 29-3

4 UC Irvine 18-11

5 Ohio State 23-10

6 Penn State 27-4

7 Grand Canyon 22-8

8 Stanford 15-13

9 BYU 19-7

10 Loyola-Chicago 21-7

Salgado leads BYU men’s swimming to win at FIU

Diego Camacho Salgado scored a team-high 71 points as BYU men’s swimming rolled up 649 points, eight event wins and 18 personal bests on its way to victory at the FIU Sprint Invite at Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center on Wednesday.

“We had a solid meet,” said BYU head coach Shari Skabelund. “Everyone found a way to stay alive in the dwindling heats. It was a perfect opportunity to give feedback to each athlete and watch them improve as the day went on.”

The Cougars’ winning 649 points came ahead of runner-up South Dakota’s 309 and Mary Washington’s third-place 211. BYU swept the four 50-yard sprints and held each of the eight spots in the one-on-one finals.

Camacho Salgado took first or second in each his eight races in Miami and won the 50 back final at 22.71. The junior from Tijuana, Mexico came up just short of another win with a runner-up spot at 20.63 in the 50 free final.

Fortunately for the Cougars, it was teammate Luigi Riva who knocked Camacho Salgado form the top spot in the 50 free. Riva won in the first round and semifinal of the event before finishing off with a win at 20.55 in the final. The junior from Milan, Italy garnered 60 points for the meet after clocking 45.30 to win the 100 free as well.

Emerson Edwards and Darwin Anderson scored 52 and 51 points, respectively, for BYU.

Edwards blasted through the 50 breast preliminaries before slowing to win the final at 31.62. The junior from Columbia, South Carolina clocked as fast as 25.17 in a new 50 breast personal best on Wednesday.

Anderson competed in three of the meet’s longer events and took second in each. The sophomore from Rock Springs, Wyoming cut a combined 4.68 seconds off his entry times in the 200 free and 100 fly as he clocked 1:40.75 and 50.39, respectively.

Tanner Edwards, Jordan Tiffany and Joseph Pyon rounded out BYU’s wins in Miami.

The younger Edwards notched new personal bests in each of his final three 50 fly races before going 21.96 to win the event. Tiffany cut nearly four seconds off his entry time in the 200 free to win at 1:37.54. The team’s reigning Big 12 Swimmer of the Week then hacked over 2.5 seconds off his entry time in the 100 breast to win with 54.32. Tiffany now ranks No. 8 all-time at BYU in the 100 breast.

Pyon, a freshman from Gainesville, Florida, made the most of his home state return with a run to the 50 fly semifinal and win in the 100 fly. Pyon recorded a personal best 21.83 in the opening round of the 50 fly then a winning 50.21 in the 100 fly.

BYU men’s swimming next competes in a tri-meet on the road versus Denver and Wyoming Jan. 12-13 in Denver, Colorado. BYU men’s diving will compete Jan. 12-13 as well but at UCLA’s Bruin Diving Invitational in Los Angeles, California.

Cougar women’s swimming comes in second at FIU

Tahis Ibáñez, Halli Williams and Annie Reichner each won sprints as BYU women’s swimming posted 518 points and finished second at the FIU Sprint Invite at Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center on Wednesday.

“We had a solid meet,” said BYU head coach Shari Skabelund. “Everyone found a way to stay alive in the dwindling heats. It was a perfect opportunity to give feedback to each athlete and watch them improve as the day went on.”

Host Florida International scored a winning 636 points but competed divers while BYU did not. The Cougars finished over 200 points ahead of third-place South Dakota. Ibáñez and Williams led BYU with 40 points a-piece while Reichner scored 37.

Ibáñez entered the meet as the 13 seed in the women’s 50 fly with an entry time of 26.79. By meet’s end, Ibáñez had improved her time through each round of 50 fly competition and defeated FIU’s Oumy Diop in the final with a personal best 25.66. The sophomore from Rexburg, Idaho won three of four races on the day and finished second in the opening round of the 50 fly.

Williams held the top seed in the women’s 50 free and showed it with a dominant performance on the way to winning in the final. The junior from Houston, Texas finished second in the first round of the 50 free at 24.08 then made steady improvements while winning each ensuing round. Williams clocked 23.53 to win the 50 free final over Emily Kahn of South Dakota.

Reichner delivered the Cougars’ third win of the day in the 50 back. After finishing second in the first three rounds, Reichner sliced 0.4 seconds off her quarterfinal time to win the event at 26.83, narrowly edging FIU’s Diana Santamaria at 26.84.

Victoria Schrieber, Addison Richards and Kara Martinson each scored over 30 points to further bolster BYU.

Schrieber competed in four events and won the 200 free at 1:55.00 on her way to 33 points for the meet. The sophomore from Brighton, Michigan also cut over two seconds off her entry time to take sixth in the 100 back.

Richards scored 31 points as she reached the 50 breast semifinal with a personal best 30.78 and took third in the 100 breast at 1:06.84. Martinson competed in four events with her best finishes coming in the 100 and 200 free. The freshman from Weddington, North Carolina went runner-up in the 200 free at 1:55.01 and took sixth in the 100 free at 54.26.

Rachel Ballard, Mackenzie Lung and Daniela Flores Bautista garnered a combined 72 points for the Cougars as well.

BYU women’s swimming next competes in a tri-meet on the road versus Denver and Wyoming Jan. 12-13 in Denver, Colorado. BYU women’s diving will compete Jan. 12-13 as well but at UCLA’s Bruin Diving Invitational in Los Angeles, California.

Newsletter