BYU concluded the 2026 Big 12 Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, finishing eighth overall with a total of 524 points. The meet ended on Saturday after a week of competition among ten teams.
Head coach Tamber McAllister commented on the team’s performance: “The Big 12 brought exactly the level of competition we expected, and our team rose to that challenge with grit and determination. Our athletes showed real progress and gave us every reason to believe we’re building a group that can compete at a high level in this conference… We’re growing, we’re improving, and we’re hungry for more.”
Arizona State led the championship with 1660.5 points, followed by Arizona (1442.5), Houston (1194.5), Cincinnati (770), Kansas (739.5), TCU (733), Utah (693), BYU (524), Iowa State (520), and West Virginia (409).
BYU swimmers set two new top-10 program records during the final day. Lily Flint recorded the eighth-fastest 100 freestyle time in school history at 49.85 seconds, while Cher Patrick achieved the seventh-best time in the 1,650 freestyle at 16:52.54.
In preliminary rounds, Katya Hulse and Emma Marusakova qualified for finals in the 200 backstroke, finishing with times of 2:00.32 and 1:59.32 respectively. In the 100 freestyle prelims, Tatum Cooley led BYU qualifiers with a time of 49.92 seconds.
During finals on Saturday, Marusakova placed third in her heat of the bonus round for the 200 backstroke at 1:58.19, while Hulse finished fifth at 1:59.38. Cooley took seventh place in the consolation round of the 100 freestyle at 50.05 seconds; Flint was second in her bonus round heat at 49.85 seconds; Tiffany finished fifth at 50.27.
In distance events, three Cougars competed in the mile race: Patrick finished sixteenth with her record-setting time; Victoria Schreiber placed twenty-first; Melissa Turlea came in twenty-eighth.
The last individual event was the 200 breaststroke where Lucy Warnick took fifth place in her consolation round at a time of 2:13.47.
BYU’s relay team—Tiffany, Cooley, Flint and Sarah Eliason—finished fifth in the closing event, posting a time of 3:19.65 in the 400 freestyle relay.
On the diving side, head diving coach Tyce Routson said: “This week was a roller coaster. The divers had moments of brilliance, room for redemption and its share of struggles,” he stated. “Proud of those that fought hard and learned lessons for the next big NCAA Zones meet. The freshman took away how intense this Big 12 Championships can be and how to channel the right energy to keep themselves as competitors. If we can dial in for our NCAA Zones meet in Flagstaff next week, we’ll finish stronger this season.”
Three BYU divers participated in Saturday’s platform event: Brooklyn Goeckeritz narrowly missed finals with seventeenth place (202.80 points); Sophia DeBergh was twenty-fourth (178.30); Aubryn Ordyna followed closely behind in twenty-fifth (176.95).
Looking ahead, BYU divers will compete at NCAA Zone E Championships from March 6-11 in Flagstaff, Arizona while swimming qualifiers will take part in NCAA championships March 25-28 in Atlanta.
Individual participants from BYU for these upcoming meets will be announced later.
