- Utah's men's and women's swimming and diving teams opened the 2026-27 season at the CMU Intermountain Shootout on Oct. 2-3, with Marti Llop Riera, Cierra Cole and Sarah Kaufman winning on the boards.
- Utah Men's Swimming and Diving, Utah Women's Swimming and Diving connect back to University of Utah and the wider olympic sports picture.
- The story is backed by 7 sources and a visible last-verified date.
October 18, 2026
October 18, 2026
5 min / 1,161 words
7 official links
Utah swimming and diving opened its 2026-27 competitive season at the CMU Intermountain Shootout in Grand Junction, Colorado, on Oct. 2-3, and the divers set the tone. Utah's recap of the meet reports Utes on every spot of the podium in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive, with wins for both the men's team and the women's team. Both squads train at Ute Natatorium in Salt Lake City, compete in the Big 12 Conference and share one coaching staff led by head coach Jonas Persson.
After one meet, the picture is clear enough to map: who produced on the boards and in the pool, what the Utes did at last season's Big 12 Championships, and what Utah's schedule release lists ahead.
The boards led the way
The women's divers won both days. On Oct. 2, sophomore Cierra Cole took the 3-meter with 285.50, with Annalise Shrader second at 280.85. On Oct. 3, junior Sarah Kaufman won the 1-meter with 240.60, Cole was second at 238.60 and Shrader third at 236.40. That is three Utes on the 1-meter podium. The roster spells Kaufman's surname "Kauffman"; Utah's release spells it with one f.
The men's divers matched them. Junior Marti Llop Riera, a diver from Barcelona, Spain, won the men's 3-meter on both days: 293.70 on Oct. 2, when Attila Bernatsky was second at 291.55 and Rudy Gentry-Peacock third at 274.94, and 342.50 on Oct. 3, with Gentry-Peacock and Bernatsky behind him. Alex Just was fourth that day with 294.15. Landon Marzullo, who joined the staff as head diving coach in a release dated June 1, 2026, opened the year with both of his diving groups winning events.
In the pool: podiums and a deep 200 butterfly
The men's pool results came with several third-place finishes. Nolan Dunkel, a junior from Arlington, Virginia, was third in the 50 butterfly in 22.07. Senior Jakub Walter, from Tychy, Poland, was third in the 100 butterfly in 48.99 on Oct. 3 after a fourth-place 200 butterfly in 1:49.50 the day before. The men's 400 freestyle relay A team was third in 2:59.11. Day one also brought a fourth-place 200 individual medley from Strahinja Maslo (1:49.80), a fourth-place 100 backstroke from Luan Barnard (49.54) and a fourth-place 200 freestyle relay of Lambert, Moore, Rogersson and Winkler in 1:22.34.
For the women, sophomore Maela McKallip, from Forsyth, Georgia, was second in the 100 freestyle in 51.95 on Oct. 3 and fourth in the 50 freestyle in 23.80 on Oct. 2. Stephanie Oiesen, a sophomore from Pflugerville, Texas, was third in the 200 backstroke in 2:03.93. Ana Diedrichs was fourth in the 100 backstroke in 57.47, Abby Pope third in the 1,000 freestyle in 10:33.70, and four Utes landed in the top 10 of the 200 butterfly, led by Avery Whorton in fifth at 2:07.34. Utah's women's recap prints no team score for the meet.
The program Persson has built
Utah announced on May 13, 2026 that Persson had signed a contract extension through the 2031 season. The release credits the program with 27 program records and 13 All-Americans under him, and says he coached 15 All-Big 12 swimmers this season. Since he became head coach before 2022-23, the release counts the men at 24-10 in dual meets and the women at 24-14. Jos Smith is the associate head coach, and the roster lists Marzullo as head diving coach.
At the Big 12 Championships in 2026, according to Utah's schedule release, the men finished third and the women seventh. The men's side carries the freestyle standout from that meet: Nick Chirafisi, now a senior from Middleton, Wisconsin, won Big 12 gold in the 500 and 1650 freestyle, set the program record in the 200 and 500 freestyle and tallied 11 first-place finishes during the year. He and Evan VanBrocklin, who earned 10 golds as a senior and set program records in the 100 and 200 butterfly, represented Utah at the NCAA Championships in Atlanta. VanBrocklin is no longer on the roster.
The women's side has a decorated name from last season in Erin Palmer, who earned All-Big 12 first-team honors after a fourth-place finish in the 50 freestyle, owns four program records and was chosen for Team USA at the FISU America Games in Lima, Peru, in July 2026. She is not on the 2026-27 roster, and McKallip and Oiesen are among the sophomores now posting podium finishes in the sprint and backstroke events. Oiesen was also named Big 12 Women's Newcomer of the Week once last season, one of seven weekly Big 12 awards the program has collected in the last two years.
What the schedule lists
Utah's 2026-27 schedule release lists 20 meets for the men's program and 21 for the women's, with five home meets and travel to seven states. The release lists a Wyoming meet at Green River, Wyoming, on Oct. 30 on the men's schedule. At Ute Natatorium, the schedule lists UNLV and Colorado Mesa on Nov. 6, a women-only dual against Utah Tech on Nov. 5, the fourth annual Utah Winter Classic on Dec. 12 and the home dual against BYU on Feb. 6.
The women's schedule also lists the Texas Diving Invitational on Nov. 11-13, the US Open in Austin on Dec. 2-5 and a dual at SMU in Dallas on Jan. 22. Both teams are scheduled for the Big 12 Dual Meet Challenge - West in Tucson on Jan. 15-16 against Arizona State, Arizona, BYU and Kansas. The Big 12 Championships are listed for Feb. 23-27 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the NCAA Championships at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin: women March 17-20, men March 24-27.
How to follow the Utes
Both rosters and schedules are on the men's team page and the women's team page, which link to Utah's official roster and schedule for each squad. The Utah-BYU dual on Feb. 6 pairs two Big 12 programs that both swim in Utah, and the Big 12 Dual Meet Challenge puts them in the same pool in Tucson three weeks earlier.
Key facts:
- Teams: Utah men's and women's swimming and diving, Big 12 Conference, home pool Ute Natatorium in Salt Lake City
- Head coach: Jonas Persson, contract extension through the 2031 season (announced May 13, 2026)
- Season opener: CMU Intermountain Shootout, Grand Junction, Colorado, Oct. 2-3, 2026
- Men's diving: Marti Llop Riera won the 3-meter with 293.70 on Oct. 2 and 342.50 on Oct. 3
- Women's diving: Cierra Cole won the 3-meter (285.50) on Oct. 2; Sarah Kaufman won the 1-meter (240.60) on Oct. 3
- Pool podiums: Nolan Dunkel third in the 50 butterfly (22.07), Jakub Walter third in the 100 butterfly (48.99), Maela McKallip second in the 100 freestyle (51.95), Stephanie Oiesen third in the 200 backstroke (2:03.93)
- 2026 Big 12 Championships: men third, women seventh, per Utah's schedule release
- 2026-27 schedule: 20 meets for the men, 21 for the women, five home meets; BYU at Ute Natatorium on Feb. 6