Mountain West Conference – Women
- Wednesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 18
- Texas A&M Natatorium, College Station, TX (Central Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Nevada (results)
- Live results
- Live Video – Mountain West Network
- Championship Central
For the second year in a row, the Boise State Bronco women have swept the opening night relays at the Mountain West Championships, jumping to an early team lead. It’s been a two-year title drought for the Broncos, with Nevada winning last year’s team title and San Diego State winning the year before that. But Boise is holding a two-point lead over Nevada early after a pair of relay wins.
200 Medley Relay – Timed Finals
Top 3 Teams:
- Boise State – 1:37.66
- Wyoming – 1:39.05
- San Diego State – 1:39.17
Boise State went 1:37.66 to take the first race of the night, the 200 medley relay. Boise had the fastest splits in the field on three of the four legs. Allyson Kleinsorgen was 24.70 on backstroke to earn the team a two tenth of a second lead over Wyoming. Robin Pinger was 27.81 on breaststroke before Katelyn Martin hit a field-best 23.17 fly split and Abbey Sorensen anchored in a field-best 21.98.
That Boise time was just .06 off the Mountain West record, held at 1:37.60 from San Diego State in 2015. It’s Boise’s second consecutive conference title in the event.
Wyoming held on for second, with Maria Harutjunjan leading all breaststrokers at 27.35. Wyoming was 1:39.05, touching out San Diego State’s 1:39.17. San Diego State was charging on Alma Thormalm‘s 22.16 anchor leg, but ran out of room near the end.
1-Meter Diving – Finals
Top 3 Finishers:
- Sharae Zheng, Nevada – 259.35
- Karla Contreras, Wyoming – 355.45
- Zoe Lei, Nevada – 328.60
Nevada managed to stay in the team points hunt by placing three divers into the top 8 and scoring one more in the B final. Sharae Zheng won her second-straight conference title on 1-meter with a 359.35 score, just edging out Wyoming freshman Karla Contreras. Zheng will also look to defend her 3-meter title tomorrow.
In the team battle, Boise State scored 4 divers, but three of the four were in the B final, giving Nevada a big edge in points,.
800 Free Relay – Timed Finals
Top 3 Teams:
- Boise State – 7:03.96
- Nevada – 7:07.78
- San Diego State – 7:17.79
Boise State answered right back, though, winning the 800 free relay to keep a relay sweep alive. Boise also broke the Mountain West Championship and All-Time records with a 7:03.96, becoming the first Mountain West team ever under 7:04. The previous record also belonged to Boise form 2016 at 7:04.60.
This is the third year in a row Boise has won the 800 free relay, matching the longest streak in the event in the conference’s history. Brittany Aoyama led the way with a 1:44.27 split on the second leg. Emma Chard had the fastest lead-off leg (and second-fastest overall leg) at 1:45.53. Meanwhile Amelia Draney was 1:47.43 and Felicity Cann anchored in 1:46.73.
Nevada came in second to keep the score to within two points heading into tomorrow’s prelims session. Rebecca Murray was 1:46.08 on the anchor and Teresa Baerens 1:46.16 on the leadoff leg as Nevada went 7:07.78. San Diego State was third and New Mexico fourth.
Team Scores:
- Boise State – 200
- Nevada – 198
- Wyoming – 166
- San Diego State – 166
- New Mexico – 115
- San Jose State – 110
- Colorado State – 94
- UNLV – 84
- Fresno State – 84
- Air Force – 53