Upcoming Event: Men's Swimming & Diving versus Alumni Meet on October 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM
10:00 AM
Men's Swimming & Diving
vs Alumni Meet
2014-15 Swimming & Diving Season Recap
4/29/2015 12:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
April 29, 2015
- Complete Release in PDF Format
MEN'S SQUAD TAKES 22ND AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Utah men's swim & dive team capped off its 2014-15 season with a 22nd-place finish at the NCAA Championships in Iowa City, Iowa. The Utes scored a school-record 40.5 points in the NCAA Championship meet and the 22nd-place finish is Utah's third-highest finish in school history, as well.
Utah opened the NCAA Championships with three All-Americans on Day One, as Nick Soedel (Huntington Beach, Calif.) placed 12th overall in the 50 free with a time of 19.44 and Bence Kiraly (Szeged, Hungary) touched in 12th-place, as well, in the 500 free with a time of 4:13.83 on the swimming side.
In diving, Jacob Crayne (Sacramento, Calif.) finished in 14th-place in the one-meter with a final score of 355.80 points.
Soedel and Kiraly would later earn First Team All-American honors, with Soedel taking sixth-place in the 100 free with a time of 42.36 and Kiraly finishing in fourth-place in the 1650 free with a time of 14:41.86.
Soedel and Kiraly became the first Utes to place in the top-eight at the NCAA Championships since Sterling Richards placed fifth in the one-meter in 2006. It marked the first time in more than 20 years that a Utah athlete has finished in the top-eight in a swimming event.
"That first day was amazing," said head coach Joe Dykstra. "To get three All-Americans in the first day was pretty exciting. We were all pretty pumped up and we knew that we had a good chance to get even more All-Americans on the final day. With both [Bence and Nick] to get First Team All-Americans was really exciting for us.
"Nick is obviously going to graduate, but to bring Bence back with the rate of how he is dropping times, who knows what he can do next year."
WOMEN'S TEAM SENDS THREE TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Utah women's swim & dive team sent three student-athletes to the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
On the swimming side, Giuliana Gigliotti (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) placed 33rd in the 50 free with a time of 22.49 and 36th in the 100 free with a time of 49.12, while Stina Colleou (Oslo, Norway) took 40th-place in the 100 breast with a time of 1:01.21 and 26th in the 200 breast with a time of 2:10.82.
In diving, Jasmine Matkovic (Wellington Point, Australia) placed 37th overall in the platform with a score of 215.90 points.
UTAH DIVERS COMPETE AT NCAA ZONE E CHAMPIONSHIPS
Utah qualified two divers to the NCAA Championships following the NCAA Zone E Championships.
On the men's side, Jacob Crayne placed third in the three-meter with a total score of 781.30 points (392.05 prelims/389.25 finals) and a fifth-place finish in the one-meter with a total score of 706.25 points (337.15 prelims/369.10 finals). Qualifying on the women's side was Jasmine Matkovic, who finished in seventh-place in the platform with a total score of 492.85 points (248.35 prelims/244.50 finals).
Crayne finished 13th overall in the men's platform with a total of 604.20 points (308.30 prelims/295.90 finals), while Lauren Hall (Pleasanton, Calif.) finished 25th in the one-meter (254.60 points) and 26th in the three-meter (266.70 points). Amanda Casillas (Orange, Calif.) finished 11th in the platform with 473.50 total points (229.35 prelims/244.15 finals), 23rd in the one-meter (256.85 points) and 31st in the three-meter (250.70 points).
MEN'S SQUAD PLAES SIXTH AT PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Utah men's swim & dive team placed sixth overall at the Pac-12 Men's Championships with a combined score of 283 points.
Nick Soedel recorded three top-eight finishes during the meet, taking fourth in the 100 free with a time of 42.86, seventh in the 50 free with a time of 19.54 and eighth in the 200 free with a time of 1:36.66.
Bence Kiraly tallied a pair of top-eight finishes, taking third in the 500 free with a time of 4:14.67 and fifth in the 1650 free with a time of 15:01.05.
Jacob Crayne had a pair of top-eight finishes, as well, finishing third overall in the one-meter with a score of 383.75 in the finals and fourth overall in the three-meter with a finals score of 438.95 points in the event.
Overall, the Utah men's team had 48 top-24 finishes with athletes swimming in either an A, B or C Final.
WOMEN'S SQUAD FINISHES SIXTH AT PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Utah women's swim & dive team finished in sixth-place at the Pac-12 Championships, tallying a total of 652 points.
The women's squad had 30 top-24 finishes with athletes swimming in the A, B or C finals.
Stina Colleou led the way for the Utes with a sixth-place finish in the 200 breast with a time of 2:10.61 and an eighth-place finish in the 100 breast with a time of 1:01.31.
Maddie Meisel (Long Beach, Calif.) finished seventh overall in the 1650 free with a time of 16:31.41, while Giuliana Gigliotti tallied a pair of seventh-place finishes, as well, in the 50 free with a time of 22.28 and in the 100 free with a time of 49.10.
Jasmine Matkovic led all divers with a seventh-place finish in the platform (246.75 points), while Amanda Casillas posted a top-10 finish, taking 10th in the one-meter with 271.40 points.
MEN'S TEAM POSTS 9-1 RECORD IN REGULAR-SEASON
The men's swim & dive team went 9-1 overall in the 2014-15 season, which included a 2-1 record in Pac-12 duel meets. Utah won its first nine duel meets, with its only loss coming in the regular-season finale against USC.
Utah opened the season with wins over Air Force, BYU and Colorado Mesa in the Intermountain Shootout, then claimed a victory at UNLV to go along with its second-straight win over Arizona in Las Vegas.
The Utes won its first home meet of the season, downing Colorado Mesa for a second time on the season and then went on to win another Pac-12 meet at Arizona State. Utah picked up home wins against Denver and BYU before falling to USC in the final meet.
WOMEN'S SQUAD GOES 6-7 IN REGULAR-SEASON
The women's swim & dive team posted a regular-season record of 6-7 overall and 1-5 in Pac-12 duel meets.
The Utes opened with a loss to Stanford at home before picking up wins against Colorado Mesa and BYU at the Intermountain Shootout. Utah then fell to Boise State on the road before splitting with UNLV (W) and Arizona (L) in Las Vegas.
Utah dropped back-to-back Pac-12 meets to California at home and Arizona State on the road before falling to Denver in Salt Lake City. The Utes snapped the losing skid with back-to-back wins against Oregon State and BYU at home, but then fell to Washington State in Pullman, Wash. Utah closed out the regular-season on a good note, though, with a win on the road at Idaho.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SQUADS NAMED TO CSCAA SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
Both the men's and women's swimming/diving teams were named to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Fall 2014 Scholar All-America Teams.
The Fall Team Scholar All-America award is presented to college and university swimming and diving teams, who have achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or higher in the fall semester/quarter.
The men's squad tallied the ninth-highest GPA on the list, finishing the fall with a combined 3.38 GPA, while the women's squad tallied the 90th-highest GPA with a combined 3.28 GPA.
"I am very proud of the academic accomplishments of our team," said Dykstra. "I am just as proud of the that, along with the academic improvement, just as much as I am about the athletic accomplishments that we had this season."
UTES SET TEN NEW SCHOOL RECORDS THIS PAST SEASON
The Utah swim & dive team combined to set 10 new school records during the 2014-15 season, with the women's squad setting a pair of records and the men's team recording eight different new records.
On the women's side, Amanda Barrett (Cottonwood Heights, Utah) broke her previous school record in the 200 back, finishing in a time of 1:57.45 at the Pac-12 Championships, while the 200 medley relay team of Shayla Archer (Bainbridge Island,Wash.), Stina Colleou, Melissa Paakh (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) and Maddie Jamora (Kapolei, Hawaii) set a new record with a time of 1:39.36, which also came at the Pac-12 Championships.
Bence Kiraly recorded three new school records this past season, setting new marks in the 500 free (4:13.83), 1000 free (8:54.11) and 1650 free (14:41.86), which all came at the NCAA Championships. Also on the men's side, Nick Soedel broke his previous school record in the 200 free with a time of 1:34.24 at the NCAA Championships.
Jack Burton (Ringwood, England) broke the school record in the 200 breast with a time of 1:56.37 at the Pac-12 Championships, while Alex Fernandes (Sao Paulo, Brazil) broke the mark in the 100 fly with a time of 46.07 at the Texas Invitational.
Jacob Crayne broke a 10-year record in the three-meter, scoring 438.95 points at the Pac-12 Championships, while the 200 medley relay team of Brandon Deckard (Bend, Ore.), Burton, Fernandes and Soedel set a new mark with a time of 1:27.18, which also came at the Pac-12 Championships.
HEAD COACH Joe Dykstra ON THE 2014-15 SEASON
"I thought this season was another step in the right direction. We lost a big group of seniors after last season, so we knew that was going to be tough to replace, but we brought in a very good and large-size freshman class this past year. That group was great, but it was a very big learning curve for them as well. About half of the men's team that swam at the Pac-12 Championships were freshmen and the bodes well for the future of this team."
"We still managed to put up a lot of fast times, won a lot of meets and really ended up the season with one of the best men's teams in recent history."
"On the women's side, we knew it was going to be tough because we graduated a few athletes that competed for us at the NCAA Championships last season, so we knew that we were going to have a little bit of rebuilding there. But, we had a lot of good swims from the younger group and we have another really talented class coming in next year, so the future is very bright."
COACH DYKSTRA ON WHAT HE CAN TAKE FROM 2014-15 INTO 2015-16
"Experience. We have so many athletes that have the talent to swim at this level, they just have never done it before. You have to get over the nerves and you have to build the confidence to train at this kind of level and sometimes it means just getting a year under your belt to figure that out. That big group of freshmen that we have, has that experience now and we expect big things from them moving forward."
COACH DYKSTRA ON SOME OF NEXT YEAR'S KEY RETURNERS
"On the men's side, Bence will be someone that we lean on heavily. Kristian Kron, who had some injury issues this past season, we expect him to be back in form next season. I think our freshman distance swimmers [Jay] Bolinger, [Brandon] Shreeve and [Peter] Kotson are really going to step up after a year of experience. Jack Burton, who really had a break through end of the season, along with the group of breast-strokers will be key as well."
"On the women's side, Maryssa McArthur had a break through season this year and I think that will continue into next season. Maddie Meisel had a good freshman season, but we expect much better and bigger things from her next year. Stina Colleou is one of the most talented swimmers that we have and she is going to get back to her All-American form. It is really going to help that we have a couple of really good breast-strokers coming in and that will benefit everyone."
Players Mentioned
Back/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Back/IM/Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Breast
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Diving
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Breast
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Diving
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Back/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free/Back/Fly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free/Back
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Diving
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free/Back
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free/Fly/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Back/Free/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Diving
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Fly/Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Fly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free
/ Men's Swimming & DivingHear It From Harlan with Utah Diving's Holly Waxman
Monday, April 22
Jaek Horner becomes the FIRST Ute on record to earn Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week two weeks in a row!
Wednesday, February 21
Good Luck to Swimming and Diving at the Pac-12 Championships
Tuesday, February 21
Utah Swimming and Diving Beats BYU in Dual Meet
Tuesday, January 24