UNLV
A pair of NCAA 'A' automatic times highlighted the action on Thursday for UNLV at the 2015 Western Athletic Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, held at the Palo Alto Aquatic Center. With the two victories, which included a 1-2-3 sweep of the 50 free, the Rebels finished the second day with 244 points to rank in third place. Air Force took over the team lead with 276.5 points, while Wyoming stands in second with 258. Grand Canyon remains in fourth with 222.
The night's first event was also the only one in which UNLV did not record a top-eight finish. That was the 500 free, where Joe Riggert would win the consolation heat if a time of 4:26.89 to place ninth overall. The next race was the 200 IM, and freshman Boris Kulizhnikov would record the first top-eight finish of the night, as he turned in a time of 1:49.45 to finish in sixth place. It ranks as the seventh-fastest time in UNLV history. Also scoring in the event was classmate Francois Van Wynsberghe, 15th in 1:51.24 and Hannon Daigler, 16th in 1:52.22.
One of the signature events for the Rebels the past several years has been the 50 free, and once again the Rebels dominated the competition. UNLV would go 1-2-3-5 in the race, as junior Dillon Virva defended his title from a year ago with a time of 19.17, an NCAA 'A' time and currently the fifth fastest time in the nation. He was just .06 seconds off his WAC record time from a year ago. Coming in second place was Tom Paco-Pedroni in 19.72 while Or Sabatier was third (19.87) and Samuel Lameynardie was fifth (19.91). Paco-Pedroni, Sabatier and Lameynardie all recorded 'B' times in the event.
Diver Lucas James set new career highs in both his score and overall place, as he was the runner-up on the 1-meter with a score of 313.55. That tops his previous best finish of fourth place. The night's final event was the 200 free relay, and UNLV blew away the field, winning by over two seconds in a NCAA 'A' time of 1:17.44, which set a new WAC Meet record and was a Palo Alto Aquatic Center pool record as well. It's the second fastest time in UNLV history, just .14 seconds behind the WAC record UNLV set at the 2014 NCAA Championships. Making up the winning relay squad, which gave UNLV a conference title in the 200 free for the second straight year and seventh time in the last eight years, was Sabatier, Virva, Paco-Pedroni and Lameynardie. Currently the Rebels' time ranks as the seventh fastest in the nation.
Northern Arizona
Junior Chelsea Jackson finally captured her elusive first individual WAC title to highlight Day 2 of the WAC Championships as the Northern Arizona swimming & diving team moved into first place in the team standings at the halfway point of the meet. Jackson's win on 3-meter earned the Flagstaff local her first career gold medal.
The Lumberjacks as a team overtook Northern Colorado in the team standings and leads the conference with 228 points, 24 points more than the Bears who sit in second with 204.
For the second straight day, NAU's diving unit enjoyed a strong outing as Jackson was one of three divers to qualify for the finals. Jackson posted the best score in prelims at 272.90 and performed even better in the finals to notch NAU's first individual win of the meet. Jackson's score of 308.95 was her season-high in the finals as she was one of two Lumberjacks on the podium. Sophomore Alexa Geiger placed third for her first medal of this year's championships, totaling a score of 274.60.
"Chelsea got beat out yesterday (on 1-meter) so for her to get the win tonight was awesome," said diving coach Nikki Huffman. "Lex being in third was awesome also and I was proud of the entire team. We've done what we were hoping to do and that was to dive well in prelims and get as many people into scoring positions. Hopefully platform tomorrow will be the same."
Freshman Emma Simmonds continued her exceptional efforts in her first ever conference meet, claiming a spot in the 'B' final with the 12th-best prelim score before improving to 10th overall in the consolations by besting her morning score by 20 points to post a final of 237.95.
Junior Carlye Townsend just missed the 3-meter finals by less than five points finishing 18th in the preliminaries. As a non-scoring diver, freshman Alyssa Loeffelman had one of her best 3-meter performances recording a score of 230.25 which would have placed her seventh and in the championship heat.
"It's great for Chelsea to get a win because she's been close," said head coach Andy Johns. "I know Nikki is super excited about all the divers and we're super proud of how they're performing this week. Without a doubt, they're the reason we're in first place."
In all, the Lumberjacks qualified a total of 11 athletes for the evening finals in the morning with five in the championship heat and six in the consolations. Junior Monica Pruett provided the biggest storyline in the morning, qualifying fourth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:03.99, nearly six seconds better than her seeded time which placed her 15th heading into the meet. Pruett wound up placing eighth in the finals with a time of 2:05.29.
NAU placed five swimmers in the scoring heats of the 500 freestyle, paced by junior Kendall Brown who posted a time of 4:58.61 to qualify fifth. Meanwhile freshmen Kimmy Richter, Claire Hammond, junior Eva Pold and senior Caitlin Wright held down the top four spots in the second group of eight after the prelims to advance to the consolation heat. Brown was also a medalist for the 'Jacks, picking up bronze medal in the finals with a season-best time of 4:54.13 recording her best career finish in the event.
Among NAU's quartet in the 'B' final, Richter and Hammond both posted season-best times of 4:58.32 and 4:58.85 respectively to finish 10th and 11th overall. Pold and Wright placed 15th and 16th with times of 5:03.03 and 5:05.01 respectively.
NAU's freshmen duo of Roni Houck and Alina Staffeldt carried the Lumberjacks in the 50 free after qualifying for the finals following a heated prelims. Houck was NAU's fourth medalist of the night finishing third with a season-best time of 23.59, which is the fifth-fastest time in school history. In the 'B' final, Staffeldt finished 10th with a time of 23.71, also a season-best, rounding out the Lumberjacks' individual scorers for the night.
In the night's only relay – the 200 free relay – the Lumberjacks earned a fourth-place finish with a season-best time of 1:33.89 which was not far off from the school record. Houck, Staffeldt, redshirt junior Alex Huff and senior Alexis Juergens was the NAU quartet that narrowly missed the podium by .12 seconds.
"Monica definitely had the swim of the morning," Johns said. "Caitlin Wright is ill but she was tough to get a second swim. Tonight, Roni and Kendall getting third-place were big for the both of them and our 4 x 50 relay was good as well. There is a lot of enthusiasm and we're anticipating tomorrow because so many of our girls haven't swam a specialty event yet. We're excited that things are starting to click and we're building as we get into this championship meet."
Wyoming
The University of Wyoming Cowboy swimming and diving team sits in second-place after the second day of the Western Athletic Conference Championship in the Palo Alto College Aquatic Center in San Antonio, Texas. The Pokes have 258 points and trail Air Force, who has a two-day tally of 276.5.
“The guys look good and we had some good swims, but we need to have a big day tomorrow,” UW head coach Tom Johnson said. “We set ourselves up with some good swims this morning and I thought we could have been better tonight.”
The Pokes scored 73 points in the 200 individual medley. Senior Adam Kalms finished second in the event with a time of 1:46.91. Junior Kyle Scalise finished fifth with a personal-best time and fifth-fastest time in school history of 1:49.30. Freshman Wade Nelson finished seventh at 1:49.73. Sophomore Dylan Sether finished eighth with a career-best and ninth-fastest time in school history of 1:49.82. Senior Jordan Turner qualified for the consolation final, as he recorded a career-best and fourth-fastest mark in Cowboy history of 1:48.18. Senior Michael McCormick finished 13th at 1:50.75.
“The 200 individual medley has been a good event for us this year and we are loaded in that race and we knew we could put up some points in that event,” Johnson said.
In the 500 freestyle, junior Ryan Nelson finished sixth in the event with a mark of 4:25.31. Junior Brendan Costello finished 13th at 4:31.12 with freshman Eric Oleson finishing 15th at 4:33.58. In the 50 freestyle freshman Kyle White finished 14th with a personal-best and ninth fastest time in school history of 20.52.
The Pokes finished sixth in the 200 freestyle relay with the team of White, junior Bryce Carter, Scalise and junior George Eglesfield. They clocked in with a time of 1:21.25.
“We are swimming well for the most part and tomorrow we have to keep chipping away at Air Force,” Johnson said.
In the diving events, freshman Austin Rettinghouse finished fifth on the 1-meter springboard with a tally of 293.75. Fellow freshman Ryan Russi finished seventh with a score of 266.70. In the consolation final sophomore Jacob Rehmeier finished ninth at 292.50. In all the divers added 39 points to the Cowboys’ team score.
“Today went pretty well and I think the second day is always the hardest and it showed tonight,” UW diving coach Chelsea Popplewell said. “It was great to see freshmen make a final and they have been outstanding and main thing is we have been very consistent.”
UW returns to the pool Friday with six events. On tap for the third day of events is the 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly and 400 individual medley. The divers will wrap up the week on the platform dive tomorrow.
