Mountain West Conference (MWC) Women
- Dates: Wednesday, February 19th – Saturday, February 22nd; prelims 11AM/Finals 6:30PM
- Location: Palo Alto College Aquatic Center, San Antonio, TX (Central Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: San Diego State (results: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4)
- Live Results: Here
- Live Video (If available): Should be here once meet starts
- Championship Central
The team battle remains tight between SDSU and Boise State. Boise State had about a 35 point lead after last nights final session, but now the lead is cut to less than 20 points. The two teams battled it out tonight, posting up some fast times as they raced for big team points tonight.
400 Medley Relay
San Diego had a battle with Boise State here, but the Aztec’s had the victory with a strong anchor leg to win 3:35.13 to BSU’s 3:35.77. The two teams were tight through the first 300 yards – SDSU’s Anika Apostalon 52.31 to BSU’s Samantha Wicks 53.35 backstrokes, Laura Day’s 1:01.03 to Heather Harper’s 1:01.10 and Loreen Whitfield’s 53.15 to Brittany Aoyama’s 51.95. But a 48.64 from Whitney Weisz sealed the win for SDSU, over Katelyn Martin’s 49.37.
San Diego has now gone four-for-four in the the relay, and will look for the sweep tomorrow in the 400 freestyle.
Wyoming was third at 3:38.97.
400 IM
The session had another good race here, with Yawen Li from Nevada and Mikaela Macklin of SDSU trading off the lead the entire race. Yawen would take the victory thanks to her 56-high freestyle split to finish 4:07.09, a little less than two second off the ‘A’ standard. Macklin was second at 4:07.32.
Mikaela had the lead after the butterfly at 57.57; then Li at the 200 mark with a 1:02 backstroke. Macklin grabbed it back after the breaststroke leg, splitting 1:08-high, but she couldn’t hold on to Li’s charging last 50.
The times dropped off after there, with Kimberly Davis of the Air Force Academy finishing third at 4:16.11.
Whitey Jordensen, BSU, Frida Berggren, SDSU, Brooke Balogh, BSU, Caroline Mitchell, SDSU, and Rachel Heaney, BSU, wrapped up the fourth through eight spots.
100 Butterfly
Katelyne Herrington of UNLV punched her ticket to NCAA in March with an NCAA Automatic time of 51.48 for the win tonight. That puts her well within the top five performances this season, pending the other conference championships going on this weekend.
Aoyama was second at 52.16, also a respectable time within the NCAA this season. Wyoming was third with Molly Coonce at 53.72.
Rest of the top eight included: Loreen Whitfield, SDSU, Ashlyn Acosta, SJSU, Jessica Bottelberghe, BSU, Jorgi Hobson, UNM, and Taylor Curado, SJSU
200 Freestyle
Nevada kept the ball rolling individually with another school win by freshman Teresa Baerens in the 200 freestyle. Her final time was 1:46.56. Baerens overtook fellow freshman from Boise State Felicity Cann’s lead in the last 50, out-splitting her 26.90 to 27.61. Cann finished second at 1:46.99.
SDSU had three top eight finishers with Natilee Ruiz, 3rd, Savannah Miller, 5th, and Weisz, 8th. Jordan Denny from Wyoming, Jessica Heim of UNLV, and Riley Spitser of SJSU filled in for 4th, 6th and 7th place.
100 Breaststroke
San Diego State had their first individual victory of the night from Day, who finished at 1:01.73. Again it was another tight battle with Boise State, fellow 400 medley breaststroke swimmer Harper; Harper was second, 1:01.81.
Harper’s teammate Sydney Johansen was fifth, 1:02.27.
Ashley Blanchette of University of New Mexico, also swam under 1:02 at 1:01.98 for third place.
Rest of the top eight included: Darcie Anderson, SJSU, Kira Schlosberg, AFA, Molly Coonce, WYO, and Arantxa Medina-Alegria, UNM
100 Backstroke
After a 52.3 backstroke lead off earlier in the session, Apostalon came back even better to put a 51.92 100 backstroke time. That puts her right under the NCAA ‘A’ standard of 51.97. And let me remind you, she is just a freshman.
Next in the field was Wicks, just off her lead off split, at 53.38. Morgan Hartigan of Wyoming was third, 53.55.
Rest of the top eight included: Kaela McKee, UNM, Nicolette Cannon, BSU, Jessica Shepard, CSU, Devin Madsen, BSU, and Rachel Dixon, UNLV