The University of Arizona men’s and women’s swim and dive teams hosted the BYU Cougars in Tucson on Friday, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Dec. 21. The meet was by far the Wildcats’ most dominant performance of the season.
The Wildcats placed first in 35 of the 38 events. The men’s team points totaled to 240 compared to the Cougars’ 107 points. The woman’s points totaled to 217 against BYU’s 131 points.
The Wildcats secured 20 second-place finishes and nine third-place finishes.
Significant accomplishments came with swimmers making the “B” cut for NCAA. Women’s swimmer Kayman Neal and men’s swimmer Mason Nyboer are two swimmers who made the cut for multiple events.
Neal achieved two first place finishes in the women’s 200-yard backstroke and women’s 200-yard freestyle with times of 1:56.18 and 1:49.36, respectively. She earned the “B” cut for the 200-yard backstroke.
Nyboer’s stellar performances in the men’s 1650-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle earned him two first place finishes as well, marking times of 15:20.73 and 4:25.23. He earned the “B” cut for his 1650-yard freestyle.
Other swimmers who achieved “B” cut status include Eleni Gewalt in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.46), Haakon Naughton in the men’s 200-yard butterfly (1:43.85), Hunter Ingram in the men’s 100-yard butterfly (46.65) and Ralph Daleiden in the men’s 200-yard freestyle (1:33.64).
The NCAA “B” cut is just one of the new standards for collegiate athletes attempting to compete in events at the National Championship. It requires a swimmer to have a personal best that is equal to or faster than a standard time for a specific individual event.
The “B” cut merely gives an athlete a chance to compete but does not guarantee it. It falls below the “A” cut standard, which secures anyone a trip to nationals.
Men’s diver Gage DuBois gave a stunning performance on the platform dive, finishing with a total score of 381.83, 80 points above his closest competitor from BYU who finished third.
DuBois was followed by Arizona’s Theo Hrach, who finished with a final score of 328.05. Hrach, along with women’s diver Zara Ayazi (233.03), finished second in their respective platform diving events and earned Diving Zone cuts for the NCAA National Championships.
Looking ahead
This meet concluded competition for the calendar year. The first women’s meet of the new year will take place on Friday, Jan. 3 at 2 p.m. where the Wildcats will compete against NAU in Tucson. The first men’s meet will take place Friday, Jan. 10 against Harvard University at 2 p.m. in Tucson.
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