The Cougars’ highest score of the night came from the Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week Brynlee Andersen on beam as she recorded a 9.900. Deb Silva nearly broke into the 9.900 as well with a 9.850 in vault.

As a team, BYU set a season-high in its floor rotation. The Cougs were able to achieve a 49.025 and break into the 49 threshold for the first time this season.

The Cougars began their night on the vault. They recorded a 48.775 to start the contest. They were led by true freshman Deb Silva, who recorded her career high at 9.850. They trailed the Red Rocks after the first rotation 49.250 to 48.775.

BYU continued on bars in the second rotation, where Kylie Eaquinto led the event with a 9.800.

BYU claimed a 48.777 on the bars as Utah continued to grow its lead, 98.450- 97.325.

Next for the Cougars was the beam. BYU’s beam queen Andersen had the team high for any event night with a 9.900. This helped the Cougars get their highest score of the night up to that point with a 48.975.

The Red Rocks held their lead after the third rotation, 147.600-146.300.

In the night’s final event, BYU hit its stride and finished with the highest floor routine of the season, 49.025. The Cougars were led by three 9.825s from Andersen with a career-high, Eaquinto tying her season-high and Heidi Schooley-Meyers with a season-high.

This wrapped up the Cougars contest setting a new home meet season high with 195.325 to Utah’s 196.975.

The Cougars compete next in a tri-meet at the Marriott Center on Jan. 31 as they face off against Southern Utah and the University of California, Davis.

BYU track shines at Dr. Sander Scorcher Invitational

The Cougars are taking home victories from the women’s 200m seeded race, 4×400-meters, long jump open and pole vault divisions on the final day of the Dr. Sander Scorcher Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

“It was a busy weekend for me,” said Mayci Taylor. “I’m starting to see my training pay off. I can’t wait to throw all five of my events together and see what kind of score I can put up in a pentathlon.”

Taylor helped the Cougars start Saturday’s meet off strong after winning the long jump open division, reaching the 5.70m mark. The junior from Salina, Utah also helped clutch a win in the 4×4000 division, alongside teammates Sami Oblad, Cate Phipps Louis and Emily Ellis-Dalley.

“Mayci had an amazing day,” said multi-events coach Tiffany Hogan. “She was 2cm under her best long jump ever. It is fun watching her versatility as a heptathlete.”

In the women’s 200m seeded open, Ellis-Dalley crossed in 24.52, giving her a first-place finish. Teammate Paje Rasmussen wasn’t far behind after finishing in 24.69 seconds to claim third place.

Senior Maren Garnett notched her third pole vault win of the season after clearing 4.25m/13-11.25. Rebekah Erikson recorded a second-place finish in the event with her 4.15m/13-7.25.

The men’s team performance was highlighted by the sprints position group on the final day of competition at the Dr. Sander Scorcher.

“It was a solid weekend for our team,” said sprints coach Kyle Grossarth. “We are walking away with a few personal and a number of victories from this weekend. I’m happy with how everybody showed up and performed.”

Eli Hazlett and Josh Taylor each competed in the pro-elite heat of the men’s 400m. Hazlett took the win in 47.11, while Taylor crossed the finish in second with a 47.63 finishing time.

“Coach Kyle has me feeling really strong in the 400m this year,” said Hazlett. “Although today wasn’t a personal record for me, the race felt smooth and easy. I am looking forward to running on faster tracks with faster competition as the season continues. There’s much more to come.”

At the 200m distance, Logan Hubler clocked 21.56 to take second in the invite section of the event. In the open section, Riley Hunt ran 21.58 to take first while G Kire Goulding ran 22.72 across the line.

Both 4x400m relay squads took the top-two best times of the day in the Invite section. The team composed of Taylor, Ty Oustrich, Jace Jensen and Hazlett finished in 3:10.04.

From the throws group, Danny Bryant threw 18.76m/61-6.75 to take third overall in the invite section of the men’s shot put.

The Cougars will return to the east coast on Jan. 31 for the John Thomas Terrier Classic at the Track and Tennis Center in Boston.

Cougar men’s swim and dive wins at Air Force, women finish second

BYU men’s and women’s swim and dive concluded its tri-meet with Air Force and Colorado Mesa on Saturday at Cadet Natatorium.

“I’m incredibly proud of how our teams competed and persevered through challenging circumstances,” said BYU head swim and dive coach Tamber McAllister. “We had some standout individual swims, and we’re excited about the progress our athletes are making as we approach our final dual meet of the season.”

BYU head diving coach Tyce Routson also saw progress in his athletes.

“Our divers had some of their best individual dives and we showed that we’re getting stronger,” Routson said.

The BYU men won six more events on the way to amassing 743.5 points and finishing first in team scoring. Air Force finished second with 633 points while Colorado Mesa came in third at 566.5.

The Cougars were at their most dominant on Saturday with four swimmers finishing in the top five of the 100 free. Nathaniel Eliason won his second event of the meet with a time of 44.08 and was followed in short order by Max Kleinman (44.38), Joshua Reed (45.19) and Connor Seminavage (45.54) in second, third and fifth places, respectively.

Luigi Riva was the only swimmer on any of the three teams to clock under 20 seconds in the 50 free at the meet. Riva won the sprint with a time of 19.96 to give the Cougars 16 more points while Fletcher Madsen fought for a fourth-place tie and 10.5 more to the team tally.

Kleinman, Riva and Eliason joined Peter Etzold in clocking 3:12.66 to win the 400 medley relay. Diego Camacho Salgado then combined with Eliason, Kleinman and Riva to win the 200 free relay at 1:19.14, giving the BYU men a sweep of all four relay events in Colorado Springs this weekend.

Darwin Anderson continued his recent momentum in long distance swims with a 4:28.69 to win the 500 free. Anderson now has nine race wins under his belt this season.

BYU’s young talent not only impressed in the pool but on the diving board as well.

Marti Llop notched his second career first-place finish with a 293.25 on 1-meter. Llop’s first-place performance came over 16 points ahead of the Falcons’ runner-up Brady Nichol. Fellow freshman Bryce Roper finished sixth with a 1-meter personal-best 256.70.

The BYU women scored 612 points to finish second behind host Air Force’s 753 but in front of Colorado Mesa’s 593. The Cougars’ score of 612 came behind five more races won, including meet sweeps of the breaststroke and individual medley events by Mackenzie Miller Lung and Lucy Warnick, respectively.

Miller Lung took first in a race for the 12th time this season with a 2:13.59 in the 200 breast. Teammates Jasmine Anderson and Addison Richards followed Miller Lung to give BYU a one-two-three finish in the 200 breast.

Warnick registered another 200 IM win with a time of 2:05.02, 1.41 seconds in front of runner-up Sophia Bains of Colorado Mesa.

Victoria Schreiber and Halli Williams added two more first-place finishes for the Cougars on Saturday. Schreiber won the 500 free at 4:59.60 with teammates Richards in third and Regan Geldmacher in fourth. Williams edged Air Force’s Abby Turner by a tenth-of-a-second to take the 50 free in 23.46.

The Cougars secured three of the four relay races at Cadet Natatorium with Emma Marusakova, Miller Lung, Sarah Eliason and Williams beginning Saturday’s events with a 3:41.47 victory in the 400 medley relay.

Sophia DeBergh achieved BYU’s top women’s diving finish for the second time in as many days with a third-place score of 247.95.

Up next, BYU swim has a week off while the dive teams will return to Colorado Springs Jan. 31-Feb. 1 for the Air Force Diving Invitational.