Utah Utes campus briefs

SWIMMING/DIVING: The Utes went 1-1 in their dual meet on Saturday. Both of the Utah teams finished behind Denver, with the men's team falling, 163-137, and the women's team dropping a 162-134 decision. The Ute women also defeated the North Texas Mean Green, 174-126. Utah kept the score close throughout the meet, with the outcome undecided until the last two events for both teams.

"Our team is still young. The freshmen really stepped up and did well, but they're not used to swimming so many events, with each one being so competitive," said head coach Greg Winslow.

The Utah men's team started out the meet with a win in the 400 medley relay. The team of freshman Andy Lamb (Raleigh, N.C.), senior John Baque (Olympia, Wash.), freshman Karson Applin (Houston, Texas) and freshman Bjorn Gunnarsson (Norrkoping, Sweden) came from behind to win the event with a time of 3:26.30.

The Utes finished first in six events overall. Baque led the team, finishing first in both the 100 (57.71) and 200 breaststroke (2:09.03), as well as finishing second in the 400 individual medley (4:10.48). Gunnarsson finished first in the 50 freestyle with a personal best of 21.61. He finished second in the 100 free in 48.27, also a personal best. Sophomore Eric Murray (Woodstock, Ga.) finished third behind Gunnarsson at a time of 48.34. Sophomore Major Robinson (Missoula, Mont.) contributed with a first-place finish in the 200 backstroke (1:53.69) and finishing behind teammate Lamb in the 100 backstroke. Lamb finished second with a time of 52.65 and Robinson was third with a time of 52.97. Freshman Ryan Hansen (Pewaukee, Wis.) was the other first-place finisher, taking the 500 freestyle event for Utah with a time of 4:40.91. Hansen also finished in third in the 200 free with a time of 1:45.76 behind Murray, who finished in second place with a time of 1:44.77.

Other notable performances for the Utah men: Freshman Bryan Michaels (Shoreline, Wash.) was second in the 1,000 freestyle (9:48.88). Applin took second in the 100 butterfly (50.24) as well as second in the 100 breaststroke (58.38). Freshman Brandon Stopplemoor (Olathe, Kan.) was second in the 3-meter dive with a score of 248.78 and Murray finished third in the 400 IM (4:17.79).

"This was a big step forward for our men, to keep it this close against a deep Denver team was impressive. Our freshmen and sophomores did really well. The sophomores really stepped up and took the leadership role, getting the team excited for a second-half rally in this meet," said Winslow.