Three BYU swimmers earned medals on the fourth day of the Big 12 Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jacob Ballard reached the championship final in the 200-yard butterfly and finished seventh with a time of 1:45.46. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Peter Etzold placed sixth at 52.58 seconds, while Will Bonnett took eighth.
The team standings after four days showed BYU in fifth place with 653 points, behind Arizona State, Arizona, Utah, and TCU. Cincinnati and West Virginia rounded out the rankings.
Two new top-10 performances for BYU were set during the competition. Freshman Mattia Reina recorded a time of 1:45.34 in the 200 butterfly prelims, marking the third-fastest swim in program history. Junior Will Bonnett posted a prelim time of 52.88 seconds in the 100 breaststroke, which is now the fourth-fastest mark at BYU.
In Friday’s preliminary rounds, Ballard, Reina, and Connor Seminavage qualified for finals in the 200 butterfly. Ballard was eighth at 1:45.21; Reina took tenth at 1:45.34; Seminavage was twenty-fourth at 1:49.39 and advanced to the bonus round.
For the 100 breaststroke prelims, Etzold finished fifth at 52.79 seconds and Bonnett seventh at 52.88; both advanced to compete for medals in finals. Evan VanderSluis placed seventeenth with a time of 54.27 and moved to the bonus round.
In other events, Max Kleinman qualified tenth for finals in the 100 backstroke with a time of 46.90 seconds; Tanner Edwards was eighteenth at 47.62.
During finals sessions, Seminavage took sixth place in his bonus round heat of the butterfly event (1:48.82), Reina earned third in consolation (1:46.08), and Ballard finished seventh overall (1:45.46). In breaststroke finals’ bonus round VanderSluis won first place (53.67). Etzold led BYU’s championship effort by finishing sixth (52.58) while Bonnett ended eighth.
In backstroke finals Edwards finished sixth in his bonus round (48.25), while Kleinman took fourth place in consolation (47.02).
BYU’s relay team—Kleinman, Payton Plumb, Edwards and Joshua Reed—placed fourth in Friday’s concluding event, finishing their race at 1:18.48.
The men’s platform diving event saw Martí Llop lead BYU with a preliminary score of seventh place (293.20), followed by Ashton Sparks fifteenth (242.80) and Elijah Baker twentieth (166.90). In finals Llop improved to eighth with a score of 308.70; Sparks was fourteenth with a score of 242.05.
The championships continue Saturday as BYU returns for final day competition at Greensboro Aquatic Center; coverage will be available on ESPN+.
