By Dave Chaffin
Both UNLV and Northern Arizona continue to lead the 2014 WAC Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships after three days of competition.
On the men’s side, UNLV continues to lead with 545 points followed by Wyoming (506), Air Force (470), Grand Canyon (348), North Dakota (327), Bakersfield (224) and Seattle U (130). For the women, Northern Arizona also continues to lead with 476 points followed by Idaho (457), New Mexico State (353), Bakersfield and Grand Canyon (308), North Dakota (261), Northern Colorado (219) and Seattle U (112).
Wyoming’s Ryan Nelson opened the night with a new WAC and pool record in the 400-yard individual medley with an NCAA provisional time of 3:45.20. Grand Canyon’s Hannah Kastigar took the gold on the women’s side of the 400 IM with a time of 4:14.69, nearly four seconds better than silver medalist Kendall Brown of Northern Arizona.
Thursday’s 50 free gold medalist, Dillon Virva of UNLV, added his second individual gold with a win in the 100 butterfly. Virva swam a 46.65 to earn an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Idaho’s Jamie Sterbis won the women’s 100 butterfly in 54.29, also an NCAA provisional time.
In the 200 freestyle, Wyoming’s Adam Kalms broke his own WAC and pool record set in the leadoff leg of Wednesday’s 800 free relay with a time of 1:33.74. For the women, Bakersfield’s Michaela Paige won the 200 free in 1:47.32, defeating last year’s winner, Rachel Millet of Idaho (1:48.22). Paige’s time is an NCAA B cut time.
North Dakota’s Austin Smith earned the top spot on the podium in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 53.29, just two hundredths of a second faster than UNLV’s David Szele. All seven finishers earned NCAA provisional qualifying times. New Mexico State’s Jessica Legge won the women’s event for the second straight year. Her time of 1:01.78 is an NCAA B cut.
After setting WAC and pool records in the prelims of the 100 backstroke earlier in the day, UNLV’s Henrique Machado, went even faster in the finals to win with a time of 46.59. Terrin Seaver of New Mexico State won the women’s 100 back in an NCAA provisional time of 54.77.
Air Force’s Dominic Vallejo won the platform diving event with a score of 316.55 after placing second in yesterday’s 1-meter diving.
UNLV’s 400 medley relay team of Machado, Szele, Virva and Samuel Lameynardi defeated Grand Canyon by over four seconds in posting an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 3:08.83, setting new WAC and pool records. Machado’s leadoff time of 46.51 nearly matched his earlier WAC record in the 100 back. Grand Canyon won the women’s relay in 3:40.91 with the team of Iryna Glavnyk, Molly Graves, Rebecca Coan and Hannah Kastigar.
Action concludes tomorrow at the Palo Alto College Aquatic Center with the 1,650 freestyle, 200 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 backstroke and the 400 freestyle relays. Prelims begin at 10:00 a.m., the first five heats of the 1650 free begin at 3:15 p.m. and the finals start at 6:00 p.m.
