BYU swimmer Tanner Nelson secured the team’s first championship win at the Big 12 Championship on Thursday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Nelson finished the 400 individual medley with a time of 3:44.46.
“This is huge for us, our program is only going upwards from here,” Nelson said about his victory. “Super exciting to show the rest of the world what we got.”
After three days of competition, BYU stands fifth in team rankings with 447 points. Arizona State leads with 1,032.5 points, followed by Arizona and Utah.
Several BYU athletes achieved top-10 program performances during Thursday’s events. Darwin Anderson recorded the seventh-fastest time in school history for the 400 individual medley at 3:50.47. In the 200 freestyle, Lucca Ferreira posted a time of 1:36.35, which is eighth-best for BYU. Jacob Ballard and Jake Aina delivered strong results in the 100 butterfly, finishing with times of 46.97 and 46.98 respectively—marking them as seventh- and eighth-fastest all-time at BYU.
In preliminary rounds, multiple swimmers advanced to finals across several events. In the 100 butterfly prelims, Max Kleinman led BYU qualifiers by placing 14th with a time of 47.13; Ballard, Aina, and Tanner Edwards also moved forward.
Nelson qualified for finals in the 400 individual medley after finishing first in prelims at 3:46.29. Four other Cougars—Anderson, Tyler Edlefsen, Chas Jones, and Dane Weber—also reached finals in this event.
All three BYU swimmers competing in the preliminary round of the 200 freestyle advanced to finals as well.
During finals competition later that day, Ballard and Aina took first and second place respectively in the bonus round of the 100 butterfly final heat; Kleinman placed seventh in consolation.
Nelson’s performance brought home first place for BYU after he overtook an Arizona State swimmer during the last leg of his race.
Ferreira finished fifth in his bonus round heat for the 200 freestyle while Joshua Reed placed seventh; Payton Plumb was sixth in consolation.
The men’s team closed out Thursday’s swimming events by taking fifth place in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:09.39.
On the diving side, Martí Llop led BYU divers by qualifying for finals and finishing seventh overall with a score of 352.65 on one-meter springboard. Freshmen Ashton Sparks and Elijah Baker also competed but did not advance past preliminaries.
The Big 12 Championship continues Friday as BYU aims to improve its standing; fans can watch coverage on ESPN+.
