2021 Women’s Mountain West Conference Championships
- Thursday, February 18 – Saturday, February 20, 2021
- Swimming at UNLV (Pacific Time Zone), Diving at Air Force (Mountain Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: San Diego State (2x) (results: 1, 2, 3, 4)
- Live results
- Championship Central
- Day 2 Results
- Day 3 Results
Team Scores (Through Day 3)
- San Diego State University – 926
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas – 916
- University of Nevada, Reno – 892
- University of Wyoming – 653
- Colorado State University – 562
- Fresno State University – 548
- U.S. Air Force Academy – 456
- San Jose State University – 267
Two-time defending conference champions San Diego State took the lead on Day 3, although the team standings remain very tight. UNLV sits just 10 points behind heading into the final day of the meet, while Nevada is just 34 points out of 1st. At this point, it’s anyone’s meet, and whichever team has the best performance on Saturday will be crowned as the 2021 MW conference champions.
San Diego State star Klara Thormalm made waves in prelims this morning, breaking her own Mountain West Championships record in the 100 breast. Thormalm sped to a 59.14 in the morning session, leading the field by a large margin, and establishing a new season best. Thormalm has been as fast as 58.93, which she swam at the 2019 NCAAs. Thormalm was slower in finals tonight, swimming a 1:00.19, though she still won a tight race with Nevada’s Wiktoria Samula, who finished 2nd in 1:00.28.
We've found the best way to spend 59.14 seconds of your time– watching Klara Thormalm CRUSH her 100 breaststroke MW time from last year in this year's preliminaries.
That's right. Thormalm with the MW CHAMPIONSHIP record of 59.14 in the preliminaries. pic.twitter.com/MoIwH22gNC
— San Diego State Swim and Dive (@AztecSwimDive) February 19, 2021
UNLV took a pair of victories on the day, winning the 100 fly and the 200 free relay. Freshman Sarah Koopsman took the 100 fly with a 53.58. Koopsman was 3rd at the 50 mark, splitting 24.97, but won the race on the back of her 28.61 split coming home on the 2nd 50. Nevada junior Josien Wijkhuijs took 2nd with a 53.77, after leading at the 50 with a 24.77.
UNLV won the 200 free relay in 1:30.81, getting out to an early lead over San Diego State (1:31.39). Junior Kristina Schneider led the team off in 22.91, with senior Eva Kim swimming 2nd in 22.58, for a 45.49 on the first 100, significantly ahead of SDSU (46.18). Freshman Malia Fernandez went 3rd for UNLV, splitting 22.80, and senior Caitlyn Schreiber anchored in 22.52.
Nevada took the 400 IM, where sophomore Benedict Nagy won the race decisively. She swam a very well-rounded race, splitting 58.97 on fly, 1:04.41 on backstroke, 1:13.22 on breaststroke, and 59.19 on freestyle, for a final time of 4:15.79. Nagy posted the fastest backstroke and freestyle splits in the field.
Wyoming’s Katelyn Blattner won a very tight race in the 200 free, touching in 1:48.36, with UNLV’s Julia Filippova was 2nd in 1:48.50, and Nevada’s Caitlyn McHugh took 3rd in 1:48.75. Blattner got out to a slight early lead, flipping at 53.16 at the 100 mark, while Filippova was 53.65, and McHugh was 53.51.
Fresno State picked up its first win of the meet when sophomore Athena Clayson took the 100 back with a 54.03, touching first by .40 seconds. UNLV senior Katsiaryna Afanasyeva took the race out fastest, splitting 25.94 on the first 50, while Clayson posted a 26.17. Clayson held it down better down the stretch of the race, and Afanasyeva finished 2nd in 54.43.