Records Keep Breaking in Texas as Palmer Nabs 50 Free Crown

Friday, November 21

Dallas, TX

All Day

University of Utah

SMU Invitational

Utah women’s swim and dive intra squad meet at Ute Natatorium in Salt Lake City, Utah on Thursday, October 10, 2025.Anna Fuder/Utah Athletics

Photo by: Anna Fuder/Utah Athletics

Records Keep Breaking in Texas as Palmer Nabs 50 Free Crown

11/21/2025 7:09 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Senior smashes record that had stood since 2013

DALLAS – Senior Erin Palmer set the University of Utah program record in the 50 Free at the SMU Invitational on Friday night, breaking a record that had stood for more than a decade.

After narrowly missing out on a new personal best in the preliminary round, Palmer touched the wall in 22.11 to place third in the 50 Free, besting Traycie Swartz's 22.15 set at USA Short Course Nationals in 2013. It marks Palmer's second individual program record, as she also boasts Utah's best-ever time in the 100 Breast (1:00.40). The Bismarck, N.D., native was also a part of the record-breaking 200 and 400 Free relay teams last season.

"We had a lot of personal bests and top times today, and on top of all that we had a school record, which was very refreshing and another great step for Erin towards one of her best seasons so far at Utah," head coach Jonas Persson said. "Erin knows that she has the potential to qualify for the national championships this year, so shaving off another tenth of a second is definitely a step in the right direction."

This marks the second night in a row in which a Utah program record has fallen. Nick Chirafisi set a new Utah standard in the 200 Free on Thursday night with a 1:33.75.

Palmer was one of 15 Utes to qualify for A-finals on the third day of competition in Dallas and one of nine to finish in the top five.

"I think we had another good day today," Persson said. "It's day three so obviously people are starting to get a little tired and that affects everyone a little bit differently, but that's part of the learning process and part of the hard work that we put in. I'm very happy with the efforts and attitudes of today's competition."

In total, nine Utah Utes set top-10 times between Friday's two sessions.

Prelims
15 Utes qualified for A-finals and eight swimmers logged top-10 times on Friday morning.

Palmer placed third in the 50 Free with a 22.26, two-hundredths of a second behind her career best, while Maela McKallip logged a collegiate-best time of 23.14 to qualify for B-finals alongside Julia Bartell and her season-best 23.28.
Nolan Dunkel, Nash Hale and Finn Winkler all logged top-10 times in the 100 Back. Dunkel placed fifth with a 46.58, which ranked fourth in Utah program history at the time, followed closely by Hale in sixth with a 46.74, the then-sixth-fastest mark by a Ute. Winkler's ninth-place time of 47.16 was the eighth-fastest mark in school history.
Megan Legarth placed fourth in the 100 Back thanks to a personal-best 54.89 and was the lone Utah Ute to reach A-finals in the event. Stephanie Oiesen also logged a personal best with a 55.38 to finish 10th, qualifying for B-finals alongside Kindsey Joyce, who touched the wall in 55.86 – a collegiate best.
Rylee McColley swam the fastest 200 Breast in the field on Friday morning, touching the wall in 2:12.50. Teagan Steinmetz finished third with a 2:13.85, a new personal best and the ninth-fastest mark in program history, while Ella Derby logged a 2:15.07 – the 10th-fastest time by a Utah Ute – to place sixth. Anya Clark, who set a personal best in the event last time out against UNLV, set another career-best with a 2:17.69 to reach A-finals.
Caleb Gallagher and Cole Bettis each reached A-finals in the men's 200 Breast and logged top-10 times. Gallagher clocked a 1:56.72, fourth-fastest in Utah history, to finish seventh while Bettis placed eighth with a 1:56.87, the fifth-fastest time in the record book. Strahinja Maslo reached B-finals with a 1:59.21, the first time he has finished the event in under two minutes.
A day after logging a collegiate best in the 200 Free, Hayley Smith placed second in the 500 Free with a 4:52.47. Abigail Pope and Taylor Tomey also reached A-finals, finishing seventh and eighth with times of 4:55.84 and 4:56.31, respectively.
Nick Chirafisi finished second in the men's 500 Free with a season-best 4:18.46 and Jones Lambert placed fifth with a season-best 4:19.74. Nolan Arnholt clocked a 4:21.81, the eighth-fastest time in Utah program history.

Finals
Highlighted by Palmer's program record, the Utes logged nine top three-finishes in A-finals.

Dunkel placed fifth in A-finals in the 100 Back with a 46.45, the fourth-fastest time in program history and his second PR of the day, while Hale placed eighth with a 46.93. Winkler won the B-finals in the 100 Back with a 46.47, which marked the fifth-fastest time by a Ute, while Winston Sundeen won C-finals with a 47.58.
Four Utes finished in the top eight in the women's 200 Breast. McColley finished fourth with a 2:13.51, followed by Steinmetz in fifth at 2:13.77 and Derby in sixth at 2:13.91. Clark came in eighth with a time of 2:18.77. Steinmetz and Derby both improved upon their PRs from earlier in the day, still sitting at ninth and 10th, respectively, in the program record book.
Smith topped her prelim time to finish third in the women's 500 Free, touching the wall in 4:51.30. Tomey placed fifth thanks to a 4:54.67 effort, another personal best, while Abigail Pope finished in eighth at 5:03.79.
In the men's 500 Free, Chirafisi improved on his top-10 time to finish third, clocking a 4:16.63. Lambert touched the wall right behind him, finishing fourth with a 4:19.32, while Arnholt moved to seventh all-time in the event thanks to a 4:19.76, placing sixth.
Gallagher improved on his top-10 time in the 200 Breast, touching the wall in 1:56.11, the third-fastest by a Ute, to finish in seventh place. Bettis placed eighth with a 1:57.27. In B-finals, Maslo logged a 1:58.29, the 10th-quickest mark in program history, to place sixth.
Legarth placed eighth in the women's 100 Back. Utah's freshmen in B-finals performed well, as Joyce set a new collegiate best for the second time on the day with a 55.55 and Oiesen clocked a 55.66, finishing 13th and 14th, respectively.
McKallip posted her second collegiate best of the day with a 23.13 in B-finals of the women's 50 Free, placing 12th. On the men's side, Davis Stachelek won C-finals with a 20.11, matching his personal best.
Utah's men's 400 Medley relay team of Hale, Durgan McKean, Jackson Kehler and Tim Rogersson won the B-final with a 3:10.02. Hale's leadoff time of 46.33 became the third-fastest 100 Back in program history, meaning the Utes had three of the 10 quickest times in the event between Friday's two sessions.

Up Next
Utah wraps up competition at the SMU Invitational on Saturday. Prelims of the 100 Free, 200 Fly, 200 Back and 200 IM start at 9 a.m. MT with finals beginning at 4 p.m.

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