The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) does not boast big name schools or big name athletes like the SEC or PAC 12; however, it does contribute swimmers to the NCAA meet and provides a fast conference meet each February.
This past weekend teams from the MPSF met in East Los Angeles for their annual conference meet as multiple NCAA B-Cuts were achieved in nearly every event and a number of teams sealed their appearance at NCAA’s with commanding A-cut times.
The meet got off to a fast start on the men’s side as the University of Nevada at Las Vegas wowed the crowd with a 1:25.63 in their Medley Relay, a time that would have placed 6th at last years NCAA meet. Equally impressive was the 20.23 50 fly split layed down by Senior Cody Roberts, a time that comes in at a close second for the fastest 50 fly split in the nation this year.
Not to be outdone by the sprinters, the UNLV 800 free relay team responded by winning their event with a 6:28.53. In order to pull of the win the UNLV Rebels came from behind after being set back four seconds by the University of Wyoming’s Adam Kalms, who lead off his relay with a meet record 200 free time of 1:34.85.
On the women’s side, UC Davis was edged out in the 200 Medley by the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. Lead by senior anchor Katie Tomkinson, the Gauchos finished first with a time of 1:40.28. Davis responded less than an hour later by winning the 800 free relay with a meet record setting time of 7:14.45.
Though the Univerity of Hawaii trailed the UC Davis women in team points, they keep them on their toes the entire meet. Most notable was Hawaii’s 200 free relay. At 1:30.39 the conference saw another new record and yet another team to capture an NCAA B-Cut.
A number of teams MPSF teams sealed an appearance at NCAA’s. In the 200 free relay, BYU posted a time of 1:18.30, good enough for a meet record while also qualifying them for an NCAA A-cut. In the 200 Medley, UNLV posted a commanding 1:25.63, a time that places them almost a full second under the NCAA A-Cut. Equally impressive was their 400 Medley Relay. At 3:10.30 the Rebel men once again found themselves well beneath the NCAA A-cut and in possession of a new meet record.
Overall scoring on the women’s side saw the UC Davis women maintain the lead throughout the last day to finish as conference champions, followed by BYU and the University of Hawaii.
On the men’s side, overall team scoring proved to be a back and forth battle between UNLV, BYU, and the University of Wyoming. Going into the final day, BYU maintained a narrow 5 point lead over UNLV and Wyoming. Throughout the day each of these three teams traded the lead until UNLV sealed the deal in the 400 Free Relay ending the weekend with a nine and a half point lead over Wyoming followed closely by BYU.