BYU Athletics: 2019 is off to a great start

2018 was a better year than 2017, but wasn’t one that will be remembered for BYU Athletics. 2019 is off to a great start, and hopefully the best is yet to come.

2018 had some really great moments. It also had some tough moments. Overall, 2018 was a year of improvement, seeing most teams do better than they did in 2017. Despite this, many teams fell just short of having special seasons.

The year ended with some bitter-sweet feelings. We saw the highs of Zach Wilson leading the Cougars to a huge win over Western Michigan in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. We also saw Men’s Basketball have the worst start since the 2003-04 season going 8-7 in non-conference play.

Despite the mixed feelings coming into the year, 2019 has shown us so far a lot of potential.

Broken Records

Since 2019 started, BYU has broken two records. The women’s basketball team started WCC play 6-0 something that they’ve never done since joining the West Coast Conference. In fact, the last time they started 6-0 in conference was the 2006-07 season. Perhaps the best part of all this is nobody saw it coming. The Cougars roster has eight freshmen, and two of them are starters.

Another record that was broken came from the gymnastics team. Against Utah in the season opener, the Cougars posted a 196.475, which was the highest ever posted score in the first competition of the season. In fact, last season, the Cougars only posted a higher score two times. To put that in perspective, it would be like the basketball team having their second-best game of the season in the season opener. Hopefully this won’t be their second best meet and is just a sign of what’s to come.

Lots of Winning

Across the board, 2019 has been a great start for the win column. Since the turn of the year here is how every team has fared:

Men’s Basketball: After losing three straight games to end the year including two tough losses to old MWC foes San Diego State and UNLV, the Cougars have gone 3-1 in 2019. That puts BYU in a tie for second place in the WCC standings.

Women’s Basketball: As mentioned before, the Cougars have started off WCC play 6-0. In fact their win streak is at eight games with the team winning their final two non-conference games. They haven’t lost in over a month and they’re 4-0 since the New Year.

Men’s Volleyball: The men’s volleyball team picked up right where women’s volleyball left off by sweeping two ranked teams to start off the season. There was a lot of concern for the team after losing Brenden Sander, but after dropping Ohio State and Ball State, this season shows a lot of promise.

Gymnastics: The Cougars dropped their first meet of the year to Utah, which was no surprise to anyone. The surprise was how close the Cougars kept it, and again the score that they were able to put up. Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, Shannon Evans’ viral floor routine is awesome.

Men’s Tennis: Even though there is snow outside, indoor tennis season is in full swing. The Cougars started off the 2019 season beating to in-state foes Weber State and Utah by a combined score of 10-1. This comes as a shock to anyone who follows the tennis team because they had only beaten Utah once in the last six years, and had not beaten them 4-1 or better since 2010-11.

Swimming: The swim teams combined for 300 points in their first meet of the year against Grand Canyon. Although the men’s team lost, they didn’t use all their top swimmers and are still just outside the Top 25. The women’s 170 points was a solid score given the amount of events.

Overall Results: So far, the Cougars are an overall 13-3 to start off 2019 with multiple broken records, Top 25 wins, and a lot of potential.

Hopefully this is just a small sample of what the entire year will look like.