AUSTIN, Texas — BYU men’s swimming opened competition at the Texas Invitational, totaling 23 season-best and 14 collegiate-best times at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Wednesday.
Freshman Nathaniel Eliason reached the 50 free Championship Final and finished eighth after a personal-best 19.72 in the preliminary round. Entering the week, Eliason’s 19.72 would rank top-40 nationally. With an improvement of 0.79 seconds, Eliason also ranks seventh all-time at BYU in the sprint event.
Luigi Riva and Diego Camacho Salgado also swam sub-20 in the 50 free with final times of 19.73 and 19.99, respectively. Camacho Salgado recorded a new personal-best 19.85 in the prelim heat, an improvement of 1.27 seconds for the season.
Tanner Nelson and Darwin Anderson finished 13th and 19th, respectively, in the 500 free final. Anderson sliced 1.19 seconds off his personal-best and surpassed Luis Ventura (2015) for No. 7 in program history. Nelson dropped nearly six-and-a-half seconds from his previous season-best to finish the day at 4:20.35.
Tyler Edlefsen and Jacob Ballard both qualified for the 200 individual medley final. Edlefsen finished 23rd with a season-best 1:46.83 while Ballard cut 1.6 seconds for a personal-best 1:47.60 to take 27th.
The Cougars’ top relay finishes of the day came with a sixth-place spot in the 200 free and seventh-place finish in the 400 medley. Riva, Eliason, Max Kleinman and Diego Camacho Salgado piloted BYU to a 1:19.17 time in the 200 free relay. Camacho Salgado, Emerson Edwards, Kleinman and Riva combined for 3:10.79 in the 400 medley.
BYU men’s swimming returns for day two at the Texas Invitational on Thursday with the 200 medley relay beginning at 10 a.m. CST.