A reminder for all of our fans, you can see the live stream of the Mountain West Conference Championships here on SwimSwam.com.
The Mountain West Conference, which only sponsors women’s swimming, is making the country sit up and take notice of what’s happening in San Antonio, Texas this week.
The meet started off with a record-smashing 1:28.65 from San Diego State in the women’s 200 yard free relay. That group of four underclassmen included freshman Anika Apostalon (21.91), junior Chelsea Bailey (21.93), junior Maddy Dalcamo (22.67), and sophomore Whitney Weisz (22.14).
Not only was that a second NCAA Automatic Qualifying relay for the Aztecs in as many nights, it also crushed the conference record of 1:29.7 set in 2012 by Boise State. What’s more, the leadoff leg from the freshman Dalcamo broke Amber Boucher’s 50 free conference record of 22.31 by a whopping four-tenths of a second as well.
That record by Apostalon would only last for an hour-or-so, as she won the individual 50 free in 21.76 to close the night, thanks in part to an incredible turn. The runner-up was Rachel Dixon from UNLV in 22.31, which would have tied the conference record coming into the night.
In total this season, Apostalon has dropped the San Diego State school record by over nine-tenths of a second.
Boise State freshman Brittany Aoyama was 3rd in 22.77, and San Diego State’s Chelsea Bailey tied Boise State’s Katelyn Martin for 4th in 22.70.
How goo dis San Diego State’s sprint group right now? Consider that their winning time in the 200 free relay was a tenth better than the one with which Wisconsin took the Big Ten title on Thursday night.
Boise State is no slouch either; with sophomore Samantha Wicks winning the B-final in 22.52, they had three swimmers (in the form of two freshmen and a sophomore) go 22.7 or better in the individual 50 free.
The newcomers to this meet did not shirk in the limelight at all. Air Force freshman Genevieve Miller was a 4:44.19 to win the women’s 500 free, ahead of Boise State’s Taylor Padington (4:47.33) and Boise State freshman Felicity Cann (4:49.28).
Full, live meet results available here.
Miller improved her season-best by over three seconds in total on Thursday.
The other pool winner was San Diego State’s Mikaela Macklin, who took the 200 IM in 1:57.29. That beat out Wyoming’s Morgan Hartigan (1:58.37) and Nevada’s Yawen Li (1:59.16) for the title. With that win, Macklin broke her own Conference Record of 1:57.73 from last year’s meet, and Hartigan also jumped to second on the conference’s all-time last (passing international star Zsu Jakabos).
Macklin is also the conference’s defending champion in the 400 IM and the 200 breaststroke, which she’ll swim on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Despite impressive performances from the Aztecs, it was the Boise State depth that allowed them to emerge from the meet’s second day with a lead. That depth extends to diving as well, where on the 3-meter the Broncos put two into the A final, as compared to San Diego State scoring only two in the B final. The winner of that event was New Mexico senior Megan Harper.
Team Standings After 2 Days
Boise State holds a significant, but not insurmountable, lead over the defending conference champions from San Diego State.
With both Boise State and San Diego State making commitments in the last few years to remain in the Mountain West, and with both having phenomenal recruiting classes this year, they along with a solid roster of Mountain West programs could really be building something special in terms of a swimming conference.
1. Boise St. – 276.5
2. San Diego St. – 239.5
3. Nevada – 216
4. Wyoming – 160
5. New Mexico – 140
6. UNLV – 131
7. Air Force – 126
8. San Jose St. – 104
T-9. Fresno St. – 93
T-9. Colorado St. – 93