2022 WAC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 23-26, 2022
- CRWC Natatorium, Houston, TX
- Defending Champions: UNLV men (1x) and Northern Arizona women (8x) (results)
- Championship Central
- Day 4 Psych Sheets
- Live Results (Swimming / Diving)
- Fan Guide
- What Will it Take to Make 2022 DI NCAA Championships
Final Team Scores
Men
- UNLV – 845.5
- Air Force – 630.5
- Wyoming – 588.33
- Cal Baptist – 555.33
- Grand Canyon – 540.33
- Seattle U – 126
Women
- Northern Arizona – 770
- Grand Canyon – 718.5
- Northern Colorado – 530.5
- New Mexico State – 476
- Cal Baptist – 410
- Idaho – 336
- Dixie State – 227
- Seattle U – 148
Northern Arizona women won their 9th consecutive WAC Championship title tonight under head coach Andy Johns.
This was the second consecutive WAC Championship title for UNLV men under head coach Ben Loorz.
The Rebels kicked off the finals session with a 1-2-3 finish in the men’s 1650 led by Cameron Castro with a time of 15:13.60. First through 3rd place was only separated by 7 seconds. Christopher Mykkanen took 2nd while Andrew Navarro placed 3rd. The top 4 finishers were under the NCAA ‘B’ cut.
The NAU women kept up their momentum in the 1650 free where Casey Craffey earned 1st place by more than 20 seconds with a time of 16:20.59, about 2 seconds off their school record from 1994. She was the only swimmer under the NCAA ‘B’ cut.
UNLV had a 1-2 finish in the men’s 200 back led by school record-holder Panos Bolanos in a time of 1:41.60, within .8 of the WAC Conference record. Bolanos, a junior, has now three-peated this event and is the second Rebel in history to ever do so in any event.
He was the only swimmer under the NCAA ‘B’ cut (which he crushed by 3.4 seconds) while the second-place finisher was McKay Mickelson (1:45.64).
Grand Canyon’s Robyn Edwards took down the women’s 200 back in 1:56.53 followed by Maude Boily-Dufour of NMSU (1:57.73). Edwards was the only swimmer to crack the NCAA ‘B cut.
Air Force’s Wen Zhang completed a freestyle sweep after winning the 500 on Thursday, 200 on Friday, and now the 100 free tonight in a school-record time of 42.97. He narrowly out-touched second-place finisher Jack Armstrong of Grand Canyon by .04.
The top 6 swimers in this event earned NCAA ‘B’ cuts.
In the women’s 100 free, Northern Colorado’s Madelyn Moore took 1st place with a lifetime best time of 49.10. Grand Canyon’s Maria Brunlehner earned 2nd (49.41) as the last swimmer under the NCAA ‘B’ cut.
Cal Baptist’s star breaststroker Jonathan Reiter won the 200 breast with a time of 1:56.10, out-touching UNLV’s Adnan Beji who placed 2nd by .33. A total of 4 swimmers downed the under the NCAA ‘B’ cut in this event.
Northern Arizona earned some big points in the women’s 200 breast where their own Haley Mayhew touched the wall first with a time of 2:15.56, a second and a half off the NCAA ‘B’ cut. Dixie State’s Skyler Lyon snagged 2nd place (2:16.10).
The final individual event of the meet was the 200 fly where Air Force’s Adam Grimm and Andrew Limpert went 1-2 in the men’s event. Grimm touched the wall first at 1:44.28, .66 ahead of his teammate. The top two swimmers cracked the NCAA ‘B’ cut.
In the women’s 200 fly, Northern Arizona’s Maddy Rey claimed first place with a time of 1:57.68, .02 off their school record set in 2016. This is Rey’s third individual WAC Championship title of the meet following the 500 free and 400 IM.
Grand Canyon’s Aleksandra Wegrzynowska took 2nd place (1:58.63) and the top three finishers were under the NCAA ‘B’ cut here.
By the time it all came to the 400 free relays, UNLV men had a substantial lead but their team of George Ratiu (42.84), Bryan Chavez (42.77), Alexandru Szilagyi (42.62), and Reece Hemmens (42.47) still touched the wall first with a time of WAC Conference Record time of 2:50.70. The previous record was set at 2:51.97 by UNLV in 2015.
Notably, 2nd seed team Air Force was disqualified.
GCU won the women’s 400 free relay with their quartet of Emily Muteti (49.77), Claire Banic (49.85), Kaitlyn Carr (49.75), and Bruhlehner (48.97). They touched the wall with a time of 3:18.34, coming within .71 of the WAC Conference record set by SMU in 1999.
Diving
Cal Baptist’s Paula De Moya Alvarez won the women’s platform event with 273.65 points. Her teammate Kiree Lowe placed 3rd (229.90 points) while Grand Canyon’s Abigail Erickson snagged 2nd place (251.45 points.)