Women's Swimming | 2/12/2025 4:49:00 PM

Utah Tech will close out the 2024-25 regular season this Friday when the Trailblazers travel to Las Vegas to swim at the UNLV First Chance Invite. 
 
The meet, which starts at 4 p.m. (PT) at the Rebels' Jim Reitz Pool, will serve as the Trailblazers' final tune-up for the 2025 WAC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held later this month.  
 
COACHING STAFF: Utah Tech alumnus Shawn King is in his second season as head coach of the Trailblazer program.   
        In his first season poolside at Utah Tech, he guided the team to its second fastest season in school history, breaking seven school records, while collecting three All-WAC honors. In addition, the Trailblazers combined to post 75% life best times in competed events during the season.
Utah Tech also performed in the classroom, as the team earned CSCAA Division I Scholar All-America honors with a cumulative 3.79 GPA.
        Coach King is joined poolside by second-year assistant coach Colby Clark.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech closed its 2024-25 regular season dual meet schedule with a two-day dual vs. Northern Arizona at the HPC Pool back on Jan. 24-25. 
        Night one featured six relays races, four of which were won by the Trailblazers as they outscored the Lumberjacks by a 48-46 count.
        Utah Tech got the night started on a winning note with a victory in the 800-yard freestyle relay as the team Cera Mallory, Natalia Zmierczak, Kaiya Lawson and Paulina Sansores clocked the second-fastest time in school history at 7:29.75.
        Mallory got off the blocks in a flash and posted the program's seventh-fastest 200 free time with an opening leg 1:51.04.
        The five other relay races the Blazers competed on Friday night had not been swam by the a Utah Tech team since 2018. 
        The first of which, the 4x100 individual medley relay, ended with the Utah Tech "A" team being disqualified, but not before Grace Benson broke her own 100 IM school record with an opening leg time of 56.96. Benson's time also broke the school's HPC pool record in that event. 
        Utah Tech bounced back to win the 300 back relay, as the team of Allie Hayes, Dani Cannon and Mary Sims Cross shattered the school record by over 13 seconds with a time of 2:48.41.
        Then in the 300 breaststroke relay, the trio of Yara Olsen, Benson and Alyssa Gordon bettered the previous school record by over 17 seconds with a second-place time of 3:13.29.
        The Trailblazers went on to win the final two races of the night in record-breaking fashion, including the 300 butterfly relay, in which Abby Hill, Gabby Henry and Mandy Farnum bested the previous school record by nearly 15 seconds with a time of 2:49.42.
        Utah Tech went on to close the night with a victory in the 500 free relay as the team of Farnum, Henry, Zmierczak and Mallory combined for a record time of 4:26.39, nearly 20 seconds faster than the previous school standard.
        In addition, the Trailblazer "B" team of Zofia Gorska, Sorina Rom, Lawson and Jenna Tracy posted the second-fastest time in that event in program history with a fourth-place 4:39.28.
        Then on Senior Day Saturday, Cross picked up Utah Tech's first race win of the morning in the 200-yard backstroke by just under two seconds with a season-best time of 1:59.85. 
        Olsen followed suit one event later in the 100 breaststroke when she touched the wall first with a season-best 1:03.79. Olsen would later post a season-best time in the 200 breast with a runner-up 2:19.20.
        Farnum, swimming in her final home meet, recorded her fourth-career individual triumph, which came in the 50 free in a time of 24.11. 
        Farnum's win the first of three-straight for the Trailblazers as Zmierczak claimed victory in the 100 free with a season-best 51.96, while Benson clocked a season-PR in the 100 back with a winning time of 57.18.
        In the relays, the team of Cross, Benson, Henry and Farnum swam the ninth-fastest 200 medley relay time in program history with a runner-up 1:44.15. 
        Then in the final event of the day, the foursome of Farnum, Mallory, Benson and Zmierczak recorded the fourth-fastest 400 free relay time in school history with an event-winning 3:26.84. 
        In all, a 21 combined season best marks were posted in the Trailblazers' final dual tune-up before next month's WAC championship meet. 

TRAILBLAZERS IN THE WAC: Utah Tech owns several top-30 WAC individual marks heading Friday's regular season finale.
50 Free
T-6. Mandy Farnum – 23.45 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
27. Gabby Henry – 24.05 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
100 Free
23. Mandy Farnum – 51.90 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
24. Natalia Zmierczak – 51.96 (at NAU Dual #2) 
 
200 Free
12. Cera Mallory – 1:51.04 (at NAU Dual #2)
 
500 Free
12. Cera Mallory – 4:58.70 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
1,000 Free
5.  Cera Mallory – 10:14.46 (at Washington State Dual)
30. Kaiya Lawson – 10:54.09 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)

1,650 Free
6. Cera Mallory – 16:59.96 (at Washington State Dual)
21. Kaiya Lawson – 17:55.32 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
23. Paulina Sansores – 18:24.44 (at Washington State Dual)
 
50 Back
6. Mary Sims Cross – 26.15 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
27. Dani Cannon – 27.10 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
100 Back
2. Mary Sims Cross – 55.00 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
21. Grace Benson – 57.18 (at NAU Dual #2)

200 Back
3. Mary Sims Cross – 1:59.85 (at NAU Dual #2)
21. Dani Cannon – 2:05.46 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
27. Allie Hayes – 2:06.12 (at Washington State Dual)
 
50 Breast
19. Yara Olsen – 30.25 (at NAU Dual #2)
22. Grace Benson – 30.44 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
29. Jenna Tracy – 30.98 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
100 Breast
12. Yara Olsen – 1:03.79 (at NAU Dual #2)
16. Grace Benson – 1:04.54 (at NAU Dual #2)
20. Cera Mallory – 1:04.90 (at NAU Dual #2)
28. Alyssa Gordon – 1:05.54 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
30. Jenna Tracy – 1:06.04 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
200 Breast
7. Cera Mallory – 2:17.88 (at Washington State Dual)
11. Alyssa Gordon – 2:19.79 (at Washington State Dual)
14. Yara Olsen – 2:19.20 (at NAU Dual #2)
 
50 Fly
19. Gabby Henry – 26.19 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
22. Mandy Farnum – 26.31 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
100 Fly
16. Gabby Henry – 55.96 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
22. Mandy Farnum – 56.35 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l) 
 
200 Fly
15. Gabby Henry – 2:05.28 (at Washington State Dual)
21. Kam Swanson – 2:06.06 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
26. Abby Hill – 2:07.87 (at NAU Dual #2)
 
100 IM
1. Grace Benson – 56.96 (at NAU Dual #2)
 
200 IM
13. Allie Hayes – 2:06.31 (at Utah Tech Trailblazer Inv'l)
 
400 IM
6. Alyssa Gordon – 4:27.16 (at Washington State Dual)
12. Allie Hayes – 4:30.33 (at Washington State Dual)
22. Kaiya Lawson – 4:34.35 (at NAU Dual #2)
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech will prepare for the 2025 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held on Feb. 26-March 1, in Houston, Texas.