Women's Swimming | 2/14/2024 8:52:00 PM

Utah Tech will close out the 2023-24 regular season this Friday, Feb. 16, when the Trailblazers travel to Las Vegas to swim at the UNLV First Chance Invite. 
 
The meet, which starts at 3 p.m. (PT) at the Rebels' Jim Reitz Pool, will serve as the Trailblazers' final tune-up for the 2024 WAC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. 
 
COACHING STAFF: Utah Tech alumnus Shawn King was named the fourth head coach for the Utah Tech women's swimming program this past August 19. 
Coach King, who also served as an assistant coach with the Trailblazer program during the 2020-21 season, arrived back at his alma mater after spending the past two years as an assistant men's and women's swim coach at BYU. While with the Cougars' program, he served as the distance coach and the men's team recruiting coordinator.
In his first season at BYU, Coach King helped guide the Cougar men's team to repeat as MPSF conference champions, leading a resurgent BYU distance program to its highest finishes in the last 10 years. Successes from that season included three of the top five finishes in the women's 1650 at the MPSF conference meet, and new BYU team records for the men's 500, 1000, and 1650 freestyle. King also helped freshman standout Tanner Nelson to MPSF Freshman of the Year honors, and NCAA qualification in the 400 IM.
Coach King continued to build on that success during the 2022-2023 season, during which he helped lead the BYU men's team to its third-consecutive MPSF championship. King also helped further the development of the BYU distance program, adding new BYU all-time top-five performances for men and women in the 200 free, 500 free, and 1650.
Coach King started his collegiate coaching career at then-Dixie State during the 2020-21 season, during which he served as assistant coach overseeing the distance team. Working with athletes coming through the pandemic and helping guide the Trailblazers during the program's first NCAA Division I transition season, King mentored many of the team's distance swimmers to both career and collegiate best times.
King has coached athletes from prep levels to the national level with USA Swimming while working with clubs in Utah, Idaho, Texas, Illinois, and Florida. His athletes' accomplishments include multiple Utah state record holders, U.S. national qualifiers, and Division I and Division II collegiate athletes. 
Coach King is joined poolside by first-year assistant coach Colby Clark.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech combined for five event victories, four school records, and one pool record in the Trailblazers' final dual meet of the season at WAC foe Northern Arizona this past Jan. 26-27. 
On day one at NAU, freshman Grace Benson posted the first sub-two minute time in the 100-yard individual medley with a second place 57.20 (altitude adjusted). 
            Then on day two, senior Skyler Lyon accounted for two more event wins by sweeping both the 50 and 100-yard breaststroke races. Lyon shattered the 50 breast school record by more than a second and a half with a winning time of 29.21, then posted the seventh-fastest 100 breast time in program history with a 1:02.64 (altitude adjusted). 
Fellow senior Eleonore Rembert followed suit with a pair of victories of her own, first in the 50 backstroke with an NAU pool record time of 25.91. Rembert would later claim victory in the 100 back with a season-best 54.78 (altitude adjusted).
Two more school records fell day two, including freshman Cera Mallory besting the 1,000 free record by more than seven seconds with a runner-up time of 10:06.78 (altitude adjusted). Mallory also posted the second-fastest 500 free time in Utah Tech history with a third-place 4:57.36 (altitude adjusted). 
Sophomore Tavia Stemmons etched her name atop the school's 50 fly record list as she sprinted to a runner-up time of 26.22. In fact, a trio of Trailblazer swimmers jumped into the top-three all-time in that event as senior Danyael Cuison clocked the second-fastest time in program history (26.28) to place third overall, and freshman Abigail Hill finished fifth with the third-fastest mark (26.53). Hill would also place second in the 100 fly (56.47 (altitude adjusted).
 
TRAILBLAZERS IN THE WAC: Utah Tech owns several top WAC individual marks heading into the final meet of the regular season.
50 Free
T-17. Mandy Farnum – 23.79 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
22. Eleonore Rembert – 23.90 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
26. Natalia Zmierczak – 23.97 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
27. Sorina Rom – 23.99 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
100 Free
T-24. Lainey Devine – 52.19 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
T-24. Mandy Farnum – 52.19 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
30. Natalia Zmierczak – 52.26 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
31. Grace Benson – 52.27 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
200 Free
18. Natalia Zmierczak – 1:52.13 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
500 Free
10. Cera Mallory – 4:57.36 (at NAU Dual)
20. Paulina Sansores – 5:02.58 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
1,000 Free
3. Cera Mallory – 10:06.78 (at NAU Dual)
25. Kaiya Lawson – 10:59.28 (vs. Idaho Dual)
 
1,650 Free
6. Cera Mallory – 17:05.05 (vs. Idaho Dual)
19. Kaiya Lawson – 18:15.30 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
22. Paulina Sansores – 18:33.74 (at San Diego Dual)
 
50 Back
4. Eleonore Rembert – 25.91 (at NAU Dual)
8. Mary Sims Cross – 26.16 (at NAU Dual)
 
100 Back
2. Eleonore Rembert – 54.78 (at NAU Dual)
5. Mary Sims Cross – 55.12 (at NAU Dual)
 
200 Back
12. Mary Sims Cross – 2:01.71 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
19. Eleonore Rembert – 2:03.18 (at San Diego Dual)
 
50 Breast
4. Skyler Lyon – 29.21 (at NAU Dual)
9. Grace Benson – 29.62 (at NAU Dual)
31. Ellianne Effland – 31.63 (at NAU Dual)
32. Sorina Rom – 31.65 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
100 Breast
3. Skyler Lyon – 1:02.64 (at NAU Dual)
12. Grace Benson – 1:04.22 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
26. Sorina Rom – 1:06.65 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
31. Ellianne Effland – 1:07.69 (at NAU Dual)
 
200 Breast
4. Skyler Lyon – 2:17.16 (at NAU Dual)
21. Ellianne Effland – 2:23.32 (at NAU Dual)
 
50 Fly
12. Tavia Stemmons – 26.22 (at NAU Dual)
14. Danyael Cuison – 26.28 (at NAU Dual)
25. Mandy Farnum – 26.87 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
29. Abigail Hill – 27.33 (at San Diego Dual)
 
100 Fly
11. Abigail Hill – 56.47 (at NAU Dual)
19. Danyael Cuison – 57.15 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
21. Tavia Stemmons – 57.27 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
30. Mandy Farnum – 57.92 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
200 Fly
18. Abigail Hill – 2:04.94 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
100 IM
3. Grace Benson – 57.20 (at NAU Dual)
6. Mary Sims Cross – 5799 (at NAU Dual)
 
200 IM
9. Mary Sims Cross – 2:04.52 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
22. Grace Benson – 2:06.22 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
400 IM
19. Kaiya Lawson – 4:33.14 (at NAU Dual)
23. Ellianne Effland – 4:37.76 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
34. Paulina Sansores – 4:$7.29 (at UT Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech will prepare for the 2024 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held on Feb. 28-March 2, in Pharr, Texas.