Last week, the Wyoming Cowboys traveled to the Denver Relays, winning the combined score, but falling short to the Denver men. This week, the Pioneer men traveled to Laramie knowing it would most likely be a close match-up, but no one could have guessed how close, as both teams ended the meet with 140.5 points for a rare dual meet tie.
Denver was the only team that had multiple event winners. Kyle Robrock was a triple winner, taking the top position in the 50 fly (22.52,) 100 IM (51.33,) and 100 free (46.16.) A triple is always impressive, but teammate Dylan Bunch doubling up the 1000 (9:45.61,) and 200 freestyles (1:41.66) back to back might rival it.
Denver also capitalized on the strength of their 200 fly and 200 back line-ups, sweeping both events with first through third places. The fly squad was led by Ben Ussery in 1:53.71 and the back winner was Anton Loncar at 1:49.75.
Wyoming answered with four event sweeps of their own. The Cowboys took all three of the top spots in both diving events, with Austin Rettinghouse winning the 1-meter at 316.95 points, and Ryan Russi taking the 3-meter with 335.93.
The sweep of the 50 free was led by senior Bryce Carter at 21.10, followed by Samuel Loescher and Gabriel Rooker at 21.42 and 21.53.
The most loaded event for Wyoming was the 200 breaststroke, with three Cowboys touching within a tenth of a second for the sweep, leaving the top Pioneer finisher just over six seconds behind them. The sweep was led by freshman Liam Holt, winning his first collegiate individual event in 2:08.32 over his new training partners Wade Nelson (2:08.34) and Kyle Scalise (2:08.42.)
The meet ended with a tight 400 freestyle relay. Travis Greenwald’s 46.77 anchor was barely enough to hold off a surge from Bryce Carter, who split 44.92 to nearly make up for the lead Denver had built, falling just short at 3:05.25 to Denver’s 3:04.74.
Wyoming Head Coach TJ Johnson had this to say after the meet: “I felt like we swam better as the meet went on this afternoon. The best events for us were the last events. We were able to hang with their 400 relay, but with freshmen and sophomores it’s a learning experience. We will work on some technical stuff during practice and continue to get better every day.”