Boise State Press Release
LARAMIE, Wyoming - Boise State swimming and diving fought off the altitude of Laramie and a fiesty challenge from Wyoming Friday, capturing a 173-127 dual-meet victory at Laramie High School. Senior Brittany Aoyama led the Broncos (4-1) with four victories while junior Emma Chard picked up three wins of her own in the meet, which featured six lead changes over the 16 events.
The Broncos found themselves in an early 25-11 hole after the first two events. Wyoming's 200 medley relay squad edged out Boise State's B team of Georgia Zacest, Laura Williams, Monica Botelberghe and Emmie Jennings by just one-hundredth of a second, coming in at 1:43.39, to start the meet, and Daniela Luna Rocha took the second event, the 1,000 free, in 10:28.09 ahead of Ally Schultz (10:32.85) and Amelia Draney (10:44.42).
"We knew Wyoming had a lot of pride and good swimmers. They were fired up and came out strong," said Boise State head coach Jeremy Kipp. "Our girls did a good job of staying focused and kept plugging away. As we talk about, no one swim or dive is ever going to define the day. It's the cumulative swims and efforts of the team that will win the day."
The Broncos fought back in the third event, the 200 free, as Chard (1:50.45), Felicity Cann (1:53.03) and Cody Evans (1:55.16) swept the top three spots to pull Boise State to within a point of the Cowgirls. The lead traded hands over the next two events, beginning with Boise State taking a 40-34 lead after the 100 back, in which Ally Kleinsorgen (55.88) and Abbey Sorensen (56.34) went 1-2, followed by Wyoming retaking the lead at 48-45 when Maria Harutjunjan (1:02.90) and Susanna Schumann (1:05.44) went 1-2 in the 100 breast ahead of Boise State's Robin Pinger (1:05.53).
Boise State re-assumed the lead in the 200 fly as Mandy Barnes touched first in 2:08.05 with Bottelberghe in third at 2:12.20. The lead was extended in the next event, the 50 free, as Aoyama (23.13) and Katelyn Martin (23.96) took the first two spots to put the Broncos ahead, 70-61. Wyoming took the lead for the final time of the day, on 1-meter springboard, as Karla Contreras (305.55), Keely Bishop (267.23) and Peyton GrandPre (253.95) went 1-2-3 with Boise State's top finishers, Kacee Olson (252.45) and Karli Kriewall (248.33) coming in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Broncos cut into the lead as Aoyama captured the 100 free in 50.56, with Evans (51.77) and Jennings (52.44) taking third and fourth, respectively. Boise State took the lead for good in the next event, the 200 back, as Sorensen finished first in 2:02.94 with Kleinsorgen (2:06.80) in fourth and Emily Tanasse (2:09.42) scoring with a fifth-place finish.
The Broncos poured it on from that point, capturing five of the last six events on the card. Chard accounted for two of those wins, capturing the 500 free (4:58.75) and 200 IM (2:07.78), while Aoyama nabbed her signature event, the 100 fly, in 55.21, and Olson topped the 3-meter field with a score of 280.35. Boise State closed the meet with a victory in the 400 free as the foursome of Aoyama, Martin, Cann and Bottelberghe touched in a time of 3:28.05.
"We have been riding Brit all year and Emma is really starting to key in as we get close to our conference meet," Kipp said. "They were the stalwarts but we had some other very good swims, like Mandy in the 200 fly."
Boise State finishes the weekend road trip Saturday at Denver, with the dual beginning at 1 p.m.
