2023 Mountain West Championships (Women)
- Wednesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
- CRWC Natatorium, Houston, Texas
- Defending Champion: San Diego State
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results on MeetMobile – 2023 MW Swimming and Diving Championship
- Live Video
- Championship Central
Event Schedule
Wednesday
- 200 medley relay
- 1-meter springboard diving
- 800 freestyle relay
Thursday
- 500 freestyle
- 200 IM
- 50 freestyle
- 3-meter springboard diving
- 400 medley relay
Friday
- 200 freestyle relay
- 400 IM
- 100 butterfly
- 200 freestyle
- 100 breaststroke
- 100 backstroke
Saturday
- 1650 freestyle
- 200 backstroke
- 100 freestyle
- 200 breaststroke
- 200 butterfly
- Platform diving
- 400 freestyle relay
The Mountain West Women’s Championships will kick off next Wednesday in Houston, Texas. There have been a few different champion programs in the last couple of years, but overall San Diego State has retained a dominant position since the Conference’s inception.
Last year, they secured their 6th conference title since joining the Mountain West in 2011. This year, they’re 13-0, and are rolling toward another title in the Mountain West.
Returning NCAA Qualifiers
There are no returning NCAA qualifying swimmers for the Mountain West Conference for 2023. In 2022, only breaststrokers Klara Thormalm (SDSU) and Donna DePolo (Nevada) competed at NCAAs. Both graduated in 2022 after taking their 5th year of eligibility. A notoriously strong breaststroke conference in recent years, there have been few other stroke specialists who have qualified for NCAAs. On the diving side, however, there are multiple returning NCAA qualifiers. For her senior season, Melissa Mirafuentes transferred in-conference to Nevada, after competing in the 3-meter and the platform diving event at 2022 NCAAs for Wyoming, placing 15th in both finals. San Diego State has sophomore Valentina Lopez Arevalo returning after she competed in the platform event at 2022 NCAAs, placing 34th.
Showdowns
100 Breast – With the loss of NCAA qualifiers Klara Thormalm (SDSU) and Donna DePolo (Nevada), the breaststroke events have been blown wide open. The Mountain West looks to continue its reputation for breaststroke excellence with six of the top eight swimmers in the conference swimming times of 1:01 or faster already this season. Cali Rowland of San Jose State is ranked first as the only swimmer under 1:01, at 1:00.99. San Diego State is also projected to maintain its historic breaststroke dominance with four swimmers in the top eight, all four being within a second of each other: Meredith Smithbaker (2nd, 1:01.21 ), Kristina Murphy (3rd, 1:01.33), Christiana Williams (5th, 1:01.49 ), and Moa Bergdahl (6th, 1:01.93).
100 Back – There are three swimmers in the Mountain West that have already been under 54 seconds in this event, led by Nevada’s Josien Wijkhuijs at 52.69. Her time is only 0.34 tenths off of the 52.35 that earned a 2022 Divison I NCAA Championship invite. Wijkhuijs placed 7th in 2022 with a 55.00, but her entry time this year would have already beat last year’s winning time of 53.52. San Diego State swimmers Alex Roberts (52.90) and Mai Mckenna (53.92) are right on her tail in 2nd and 3rd place. 2022 runner-up Athena Clayson of Fresno State is ranked 4th (54.03). San Diego State swimmers sit in five of the top eight spots in the 100-yard back, so it projects to be yet another high-scoring event for the Aztecs.
400 IM – Kristina Murphy from San Diego State leads the conference this year with a 4:13.24. In second is the 2021 and 2022 Mountain West 400 IM champion Benedict Nagy from Nevada with a time of 4:19.34. Murphy was second to Nagy in 2021 and 2022, though she was the top seed going into finals both times. As the only swimmers under the 4:20 barrier, it looks like it will yet again be between those two, and a race to see if Nagy will three-peat as the Mountain West 400 IM champion.
200 Medley Relay – The medley relays have proved to be a stronger point for the teams in the Mountain West in recent years, with the 200-medley relay being particularly competitive. The top four teams this year are all within a second of each other with San Diego State leading the way with a time of 1:39.77. Nevada is only 0.76 tenths slower in 2nd with 1:40.53, UNLV in 3rd with 1:41.25, and Air Force in 4th with 1:41.76. As the first swim event of the meet, such close margins between half of the A-final heat will get the competition off to an exciting start.
SwimSwam Picks:
- San Diego State
- UNLV
- Wyoming
- Nevada
- Fresno State
- Air Force
- San Jose State
- Colorado State
- New Mexico
With so many swimmers predicted to be in finals, San Diego State is looking at absolute domination of this year’s MW Conference championships which would win them their 7th Mountain West title. With at least three swimmers in projected to make A-finals in the majority of events, it will be a huge undertaking for any other member team to give them a run for their money. They are also seated first in every relay except for the 4×100-yard free relay, where they are second to Fresno State by 1.5 seconds. San Diego has retained a lot of talent with swimmers like Kristina Murphy, Elizabeth Menzmer, Cassandra Phillips, and champion diver Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez staying on for their 5th year of eligibility.
Nevada, the 2022 runner-up team, graduated a class of nine major point scorers, which they have not been able to replace with their freshman class. This puts them out of the running for 2nd, but the Wolfpack will likely hang on to a spot in the top 5 due to their elite diving program; with the addition of Melissa Mirafuentes, there is the possibility of up to 5 Nevada divers in each diving final, if they choose to score all of the divers on their roster.
This will likely put the race for 2nd between UNLV and Wyoming. Both teams have very strong freestyle groups, UNLV in the sprint races and Wyoming moreso in distance. Wyoming is slated to score some serious points from relays as well: they are seeded second to San Diego State in both the 200-yard free relay and the 800-yard free relay, and third in the 400-yard free relay. UNLV has more depth in the stroke events and faster times in the medley relays than Wyoming, which could lead to a very tight call for second place.