Chirafisi Breaks Program Record at SMU Invitational

Wednesday, November 19

Dallas, TX

All Day

University of Utah

SMU Invitational

Nick Chirafisi with Austin Phillips, who had held the program record in the 200 Free since 2019.

Photo by: University of Utah Athletics

Chirafisi Breaks Program Record at SMU Invitational

11/20/2025 7:35 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Junior sets Utah record in the 200 Free as 14 Utes make A-finals in Dallas

DALLAS – Junior Nick Chirafisi broke the University of Utah program record in the 200 Freestyle on Thursday night, capping a successful second day for Utah swimming at the SMU Invitational inside the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center in Dallas.

Chirafisi clocked a 1:33.75 in the 200 Free, breaking Austin Phillips' record of 1:33.91 that was set at the 2019 Pac-12 Championships. Phillips, who now resides in Dallas, was on site to watch Chirafisi take over as the fastest Ute in the event in program history.

"I am really happy for Nick," head coach Jonas Persson said. "He's been wanting to break the record for a while, and being able to do it at the midseason meet shows great promise for the rest of the season and our conference meet in February. Having our former school record-holder in the stands watching the race and having a program with alumni that show that kind of support is very nice."

Record smashed! ????

Nick Chirafisi sets the program record in the 200 Free with a 1:33.75!#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/gERsJlme88
— Utah Swim & Dive (@UTAHswimdive) November 21, 2025

Chirafisi was one of 14 Utes to qualify for championship heats on Thursday and one of 11 to finish in the top five.

"I think for the most part we are swimming really well and putting up some really good times, including personal bests and top-10 times, which shows that what we're doing is working, that our training is working, and that people are believing in the process," Persson said. "We have a very young team so it's nice to see them step up and get the job done."

10 Utah swimmers – Chirafisi, Finn Winkler, Nolan Dunkel, Strahinja Maslo, Matthew Sexton, Tim Rogersson, Caleb Gallagher, Ella Derby, Teagan Steinmetz and Isabella Riso – etched their names in the top-10 lists on Thursday after two did so in the first day of the meet on Wednesday.

"This meet is all about learning and figuring stuff out on how to get better, how to change things, and we are very, very successful at doing that right now, so I am very, very pleased," Persson concluded.

Day 1
After Day One, both Utah's men's and women's teams sat in second place. The women tallied 102 points, trailing only Arkansas, while the men's side sat 16 points behind host SMU.

From their leadoff spots in the men's 800 Freestyle Relay, both Finn Winkler and Jones Lambert cracked into the top-10 in the 200 Free. Winkler clocked a 1:35.16, the seventh-best time in program history, and was followed closely by Lambert's 1:35.22, good enough for eighth in the record book.
The quartet of Nick Chirafisi, Jakub Walter, Evan VanBrocklin and Tim Rogersson placed third in the 800 Free relay with a 6:19.30.
Megan Legarth, Rylee McColley, Sydney Even and Erin Palmer placed fourth in the women's 200 Medley relay while Nolan Dunkel, Caleb Gallagher, Jackson Kehler and Ethan Moore placed fifth in the men's race.
Palmer, Even, Isabella Riso and Ella Derby logged a third-place finish in the 800 Free relay.
Matthew Sexton logged a personal-best 1:47.18 in a 200 IM time trial, finishing first, while Kelson Flynn finished second in the 200 Fly time trial with a personal-best 1:46.52.

Day 2 – Prelims
14 Utah Utes reached A-finals in eight events after the qualifying rounds on Thursday morning.

Teagan Steinmetz logged the then-sixth-fastest time in program history in the women's 400 IM, finishing second in the field with a 4:16.84. Ellie Broughton also finished fifth in the event with a 4:23.06, her best of the season so far.
In the men's 400 IM, Strahinja Maslo and Matthew Sexton each recorded top-10 times. Maslo placed second with a 3:46.18, third-best in program history, while Sexton finished seventh with a 3:49.23, eighth among all Utes. Brandon Miller, Utah's record holder in the event, finished fourth with a 3:47.18.
Finn Winkler placed third and Nolan Dunkel and Evan VanBrocklin tied for fourth in the 100 Fly while Jackson Kehler and Durgan McKean reached B-finals.
Isabella Riso came up just shy of a personal best in the 200 Free, clocking a 1:47.82 to finish in fourth place. On the men's side in the event, Nick Chirafisi tied his season best with a 1:36.17 to finish eighth.
Rylee McColley and Erin Palmer made the A-finals cut in the women's 100 Breast, finishing third and sixth, respectively, while Caleb Gallagher placed seventh in the men's race.

Day 2 – Finals

Nick Chirafisi placed fourth in his record-breaking 200 Free, followed closely by Tim Rogersson in sixth (1:34.73) and Jones Lambert in seventh (1:36.06). Rogersson now ranks sixth in the event while Lambert ranks ninth. Finn Winkler joined the top 10 yesterday and holds the No. 8-spot.
Isabella Riso also shined in the 200 Free, placing second with a 1:46.67, which ties for the second-fastest by a Ute in school history.
Strahinja Maslo placed second in the men's 400 IM with a 3:43.91, the second-fastest in program history after setting a PR earlier in the day. Brandon Miller placed fifth with a 3:48.06 and Matthew Sexton finished seventh with a 3:49.80, which would have been the ninth-fastest time in Utah history had he not swam faster in prelims.
Cole Bettis finished third in B-finals of the 400 IM with a 3:50.28, which missed the top-10 cut by two-hundredths of a second.
Caleb Gallagher notched his second top-10 time of the year in the men's 100 Breast, finishing in eighth place with a 53.23. He now ranks third in program history.
Erin Palmer placed second in the women's 100 Breast with a 1:00.95 while Anya Clark finished fourth thanks to a career-best 1:02.45.
In the women's 400 IM, Ella Derby logged the fourth-fastest time by a Ute with a 4:14.42 to place second. Teagan Steinmetz, who set the seventh-fastest time in prelims, finished fourth with a 4:18.84 and Ellie Broughton placed eighth.
Winkler (46.50), Evan VanBrocklin (46.60) and Nolan Dunkel (46.87) finished three-four-five in the men's 100 Fly. Winkler's time ranks sixth in school history and Dunkel's ranks seventh, while VanBrocklin still holds the program record.

Up Next
Utah is back in action on Friday with prelims of the 100 Back, 200 Breast and 50 and 500 Free starting at 9 a.m. MT.

Stay Connected
Fans can follow along on social media (X: @UTAHswimdive | Instagram: @utahswimdive | Facebook: FB.com/UtahUtesSwimDive), and the official mobile app of Utah Athletics, Utah360 -- download here.