Dixie State swimming will become the first Trailblazer program to officially begin its NCAA Division I competition era this Saturday as the Trailblazers head north to Provo to compete in a two-team dual meet at BYU. The meet will begin at 2 p.m., and will be held at the BYU Richards Building Pool.

DSU COACHING STAFF: Tamber McAllister begins her third season as Dixie State head women's swimming coach. Last season McAllister led the Trailblazers to their second-straight third place finish in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which garnered her conference Coach of the Year honors. DSU also collected 10 individual and five team relay all-RMAC awards.   
Before her arrival at DSU, McAllister served as an assistant swimming coach at BYU for two stints from 2005-11 and 2012-18. During her recent time at BYU, she spent four years as an assistant for the women's team before assisting both the men's and women's teams in stroke work. Prior to her first coaching stint at BYU, McAllister coached for one season at East High School (2004-05) in Salt Lake City, and has spent a number of seasons as a club coach in both the Salt Lake City and Provo areas.
McAllister competed collegiately at BYU from 2000-04, where she specialized in the breaststroke and IM events, and was a four-time Mountain West Conference individual champion in the 200 breast. She also competed in the 2000 United States Olympic Trials, where she placed 17^th and 27^th in the 200 and 100 breast, respectively. A native of El Dorado Hills, Calif., McAllister earned a Bachelor's degree in Health Science from BYU in 2004. Coach McAllister is joined poolside by first-year assistant coach Shawn King (Dixie State, 2014).

NEW YEAR/NEW COMPETITION: Dixie State officially began its transition to NCAA Division I status on July 1, 2020, and will compete as a new member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) this season.

THE 2020-21 ROSTER: Dixie State returns 15 swimmers from last season's squad that finished third overall in its final year of RMAC competition, including six swimmers who earned all-conference honors. Senior Miriam Gonzalez headlines the returnees list after she won the RMAC 100-yard breaststroke final and earned first team all-conference as part of two conference runner-up relay teams (200 medley and 200 free). The senior also collected second team honors in the 400 free relay.
            Along with Gonzalez, fellow RMAC selections in senior Megan Ruppenthal (800 free relay), junior Gracie Kroll (200 MR/400 MR), and sophomores Maddie Corder (800 FR), Claire Kieffer (50 free/200 FR) and Kyrie Sutherland (100 fly/200 FR/400 MR/400 FR) will anchor a young and talented Trailblazer squad.
            DSU also welcomes in one other returnee (Mycah Hoppie from 2017-18 team), along with a Colorado Mesa transfer in sophomore Ellyse Russell, and eight freshmen who will look to make an immediate impact. Ten Trailblazers hail from Utah, while three more are from Oregon. In all, 12 states are represented on this year's roster, including swimmers from Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

THE 2020-21 SEASON SCHEDULE: Including this weekend's dual at BYU, the Trailblazers are slated to compete in five regular season road dual meets overall, including duals at Northern Arizona (Jan. 15), at Grand Canyon (Jan. 16), at Seattle U (Jan. 28) and at Idaho (Jan. 30).
In addition, Dixie State will serve as hosts for the 2021 WAC Women's Swimming Championships, which will be held February 24-27, at the DSU HPC Pool.

HEAD COACH TAMBER MCALLISTER ON THIS WEEKEND'S SEASON OPENER: "With the current situation our team is very excited that we will have the chance to compete this fall. Our team has worked tremendously hard and is looking forward to the opportunity to compete, step it up and race against a great BYU team."

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State will open the 2021 portion of its schedule in Arizona with dual meets at NAU on Friday, Jan. 15, and at Grand Canyon on Saturday, Jan. 16.