Boise State leads the team scoring through Day One of the 2015 Mountain West Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the Palo Alto Aquatic Center in San Antonio, Texas with 105 points through three events. San Diego State is in second with 98 points, followed by Nevada with 82 points. Wyoming is currently fourth with 71 points, followed closely by Colorado State in fifth with 68. UNLV is sixth in the standings with 60 points, followed by New Mexico (47), Air Force (39), Fresno State (38) and San José State (15).
NOTES:
San Diego State won the 200-yard medley relay with an MW overall, championship & pool record of 1:37.60. The Aztecs held the old championship record of 1:37.90 (February 20, 2013), while Boise State set the previous overall and pool record of 1:37.75 in a time trial on February 19, 2014. The time is also an NCAA qualifying standard. BSU placed second with a 1:38.11, followed by UNLV with a 1:38.71. The Broncos’ time is an NCAA provisional mark.
Boise State picked up their first win of the meet with a 7:08.51 NCAA provisional standard in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Nevada (7:09.70) and San Diego State (7:10.21) finished second and third, respectively, also with NCAA provisional-qualifying marks.
Nevada junior Krysta Palmer earned the MW title in the 1-meter springboard with a final score of 336.30, setting a Conference championship record in the process. The victory is the Wolf Pack’s third consecutive in the MW Championship event (Stephanie Hansen, 2013; En-tien Huang, 2014). San Diego State freshman Alexandra Caplan (305.10) and Colorado State junior Ariana Milone (304.05) finished second and third, respectively.
Day two events begin with the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries at 11 a.m. CT. The finals competition starts at 6:30 p.m. CT with the 200-yard freestyle relay. The 2015 MW Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships conclude Saturday, February 21.
Air Force
The Air Force women’s swimming team is in eighth place after day one of the 2015 Mountain West swimming and diving championships at the Palo Alto Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Boise State leads the team scoring with 105 points through three events. San Diego State is in second with 98 points, followed by Nevada with 82 points. Wyoming is currently fourth with 71 points, followed closely by Colorado State in fifth with 68. UNLV is sixth in the standings with 60 points, followed by New Mexico (47), Air Force (39), Fresno State (38) and San José State (15).
Air Force set a new school record in the 800 free relay as the team of Kim Davis, Sara Menke, Jinan Andrews and Genevieve Miller posted a time of 7:15.60. The team placed fourth in the MW championships and broke the previous record by nearly two full seconds set in 2014.
Senior Lainie Long placed ninth, first in the “B” final, in one-meter diving with 253.65 points.
Colorado State
Day one of the 2015 Mountain West Swimming & Diving Championships saw two school records fall, as CSU raced out to fifth place in the four-day invitational.
“We broke two more school records tonight, and earned a top-three time in the other, which is great,” Head Coach Christopher Woodard said. “Their attitudes are great, their preparation is great and they’re handling the environment well so far.”
In the only individual event of the night, junior Ariana Milone set a school record on the 1-Meter boards, scoring 304.05. Milone now owns the school’s top-ever mark on both springboard events, setting the 3-Meter record last month. The previous record was set in 1996 by Erica Torgrude, with a score of 298.73. Milone now holds three of the top six all-time 1-Meter scores, including two of the top three.
“It’s been a breakout year for her,” Woodard said of Milone. “We knew she was capable of doing this, but she continues to impress us. Sometimes when you’re expected to perform at the level she performs at, it can prevent an athlete from living up to expectations, but she understands her role and she approaches it with a great attitude.”
Milone earned 16 points for the Rams, finishing in third place, while teammate Mary Kate Hardy earned six points with an 11th-place finish. Milone entered the finals seeded second after a preliminary score of 280.20. Despite raising her score by nearly 10 percent, she dropped one spot in the finals. Hardy’s consolation score of 232.45 was a little lower than her preliminary score (236.05), but was good enough for her to jump from 12th to 11th place.
Made up of Jessica Shepard, Cristina Bassani, Tess Simpson and Katie Kicklighter, CSU also set a school record in the 200 Medley Relay. The Rams touched the wall at a time of 1:40.33, more than eight-tenths of a second better than the mark set at the 2013 Championships, which also included Shepard and Simpson.
In the 800 Freestyle Relay, CSU clocked a 7:25.89. The team of Karin Roh, Colleen Olson, Teagan Griffith and Elizabeth Prasse – a freshman and three sophomores – was the third-best time in CSU history.
“We’re doing a lot of things well, and I think the records give the girls confidence that they can compete at that level,” Woodard said. “Everyone in the conference is performing really well, as we expected, so we need to continue to execute at our best.”
Fresno State
Fresno State swimming and diving broke a school record and had a solid day on the diving board on the opening day of the 2015 Mountain West Championships at the Palo Alto College Aquatic Center in San Antonio.
“It was a wonderful, wonderful evening for our team,” Bulldogs head coach Jeanne Fleck said. “I’m really proud of what the girls did today and very happy for them.”
The 800 Freestyle Relay team of Lucy Titchin, Casey Kennemann, Esme Gullick and Kelly Simmons swam a 7:22.34 to break the old school record by .42 seconds. Titchin, Simmons and Gullick were all on the relay team that had set the record the year before at the conference championships. The time was good for a seventh place finish.
Fresno State had swam a school record time in the 200 Medley Relay, but was disqualified due to leaving early. The Bulldogs had topped the old record by more than a second.
In the 1-meter diving event, the Bulldogs’ Shelbie Holden dove a 273.40 in the finals to finish sixth. The sophomore had also been in sixth following her preliminary round. Junior Lacie Ruth scored a 213.90 in the B-Final and finished 16th.
“Diving did great, both girls both dove really well,” Fleck said.
UNLV
The UNLV women's swimming and diving team stands in sixth place after the first three events concluded on Wednesday night at the 2015 Mountain West Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, held at the Palo Alto Aquatic Center. The Rebels ended the day with 60 points, eight points behind fifth-place Colorado State and 22 behind third-place Nevada, Reno. Pre-meet favorite Boise State leads the first day standings with 105 points.
The first event, the 200 medley relay, saw the Rebels turn in a third-place finish after posting the second fastest time in school history, 1:38.71. Making up that replay squad was Elena Gavrilova, Lina Rathsack, Jessica Wong and Julia Fehervari. The next event was the 1-meter diving, where the top Rebel finisher was Michele Serra, 17th with a score of 217.85.
Wednesday's final event was the 800 free relay. UNLV's quartet of Fehervari, Michelle Troup, Zeineb Khalfallah and Josefine Hippi would place fifth in the race with a time of 7:19.47.
The four-day meet continues on Thursday and Friday before concluding on Saturday night.
New Mexico
The Lobos find themselves in seventh place after accumulating a team score of 47 points at the conclusion of day one at the 2015 Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships
Boise State satisfies the preseason poll so far as they sit at the top of the team rankings with 105 points. Mountain West affiliates finished in second through sixth places in the following order: SDSU (98 points), Nevada (82 points), Wyoming (71 points), CSU (68 points) and UNLV (60 points).
New Mexico tallied a score above Air Force who finished for eighth place (39 points), Fresno State for ninth place (38 points) and San Jose State for 10th place (15 points).
Day one of the conference championships consisted of three events: the 200-yard medley relay, the 1-meter springboard and the 800-yard freestyle relay.
UNM’s team of Kaela McKee, Kristin Walker, Abigail Wheeler and Morgan Ginnis brought in the first finish of the week and the highest of the day as they took sixth place in the 200-yard medley relay with a relay A time of 1:40.04.
Ginnis anchored for the Lobos and swam her leg at 22.13 – the fastest split in the event in school history. McKee, Walker and Wheeler brought in 25.48, 27.94 and 24.29 splits, respectively.
One-meter diving counted as event two where freshman Rachel Colman represented New Mexico in the B-finals and placed 14th with 218.05 points. She moved up from her preliminary standings of 227.70 points for 15th place.
Caitlin Gardiner, Anna Lengyel, Celine Bertrand and Fanni Pataki rounded up the final race of the day. The team took ninth place after clocking in a relay A time at 7:27.00.
Head Coach Kunio Kono reflects on the first of three remaining rigorous days of competition, “We had some ups and downs. Rachel Colman stepped up and had a great first conference championships competition and placed 14th.”
“We raced tough and well tonight. All of our swimmers and divers are looking great and are ready for the next three days.”
Wyoming
The University of Wyoming Cowgirl swimming and diving team opened the 2015 Mountain West Championships on Wednesday in the Palo Alto College Pool in San Antonio, Texas. UW is in fourth place with 71 points after the first day of action. Defending champion Boise State leads the pack with 105 points followed by San Diego State with 98 points and Nevada with 82 points.
“We swam well and had a solid first day and the goal is to be better tomorrow and better at every session,” head coach Tom Johnson said. “We are not in too big of a hole and have some chances to make up some ground.”
The Cowgirls opened up swimming events with a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay with the team of senior Jordan Denny, freshman Maria Harutjunjan, junior Molly Coonce and junior Emily Ridout, as the group clocked in with the second-fastest time in school history at 1:39.27. The team opened the championships with 30 team points for UW.
“The 200 medley relay was a solid swim and Molly and Maria put themselves in good spots for Friday,” Johnson said.
The quartet of senior Claudia Carlson, freshman Kelly Sheldon, redshirt junior Emily Stucky and Denny finished sixth in the 800 freestyle relay with the third-fastest mark in UW history at 7:21.31. The group tallied 26 team points for the Cowgirls.
In the diving events, sophomore Keely Bishop led the Cowgirls finishing eighth on the 1-meter springboard with a tally of 239.35. She recorded a mark of 252.90 to reach the finals. Bishop scored 11 team points for the Cowgirls. Junior Kari Campbell finished 13th scoring four team points for the Cowgirls with a score of 226.45 in the consolation finals. She just missed reaching the finals recording a mark of 252.15 in the preliminaries.
“This was Keely first final at a conference meet and that was good for her,” UW diving coach Chelsea Popplewell said. “The nerves may have got the best of her, but all together I thought things went well and we will look to improve each day.”
