Boise State, Nevada Notch Relay “A” Times on Day 1 of 2016 MWC

2016 MWC (Mountain West Conference) Women’s Championship

• Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20
• Texas A&M Natatorium, College Station, TX (Central Time Zone)
• Prelims 10AM / Finals 6PM (Wed-Sat)
• Defending Champion: San Diego State (results)
• Championship Central
• Live results

The Mountain West Conference has seen championships traded back and forth between Boise State and San Diego State the last few years. San Diego State won last year’s championship. Meanwhile Nevada would love to play spoiler to either two, and they got off to an outstanding start on night one, surging to a firm lead headed into Day 2.

Boise State won the opening relay in 1:37.63. Unfortunately no splits were available. The team of Samantha Wicks, Lauren Williams, Brittany Aoyama and Katelyn Martin won by a good margin over UNLV. San Diego State could not repeat, having lost Chelsea Bailey off of last year’s team due to graduation and with Anike Apostalon having transferred to USC.

What followed was an absolute domination by Nevada in the women’s 1M diving. Nevada scored 1st (Sharae Zeng), 2nd, 4th and 6th. Last year they had just one diver, but have since added three freshmen to the mix to bolster their scoring potential. Zeng was one of those freshmen, knocking off her defending champion teammate Krysta Palmer with a score of 334.25.

But the highlight of the entire night was the fierce battle that saw both Boise State and Nevada swim under the conference record, as well as the NCAA “A” time in the 800 freestyle relay. The Boise State foursome of Emma Chard, Aoyama, Blake Balogh and Felicity Cann touched first in 7:04.60. Nevada swam 7:05.98, while San Diego State had held the record at 7:06.64.

Scores after night 1 of the Mountain West Conference Championship:

1. Nevada, University of 129
2. Boise State University 91
3. San Diego State University 86
4. San Jose State University 72
5. University of Nevada, Las Vega 64
6. Colorado State University 56
7. University of Wyoming (W) 51
8. U S Air Force Academy (W) 48
9. Fresno State University 38
10. New Mexico, University of 24