UNLV sweeps UW swimmers

The Wyoming swim and dive teams suffered their first dual losses of the season on Saturday at home against UNLV.

The UNLV men defeated the Cowboys 140-103, while the Cowgirls lost 134.5-108.5. The Cowboys are now 9-1 overall, 1-1 in the MWC, while the Cowgirls fall to 8-1 overall, 2-1 in the league. With the win the Rebel men advance to 5-0 overall and 4-3 overall on the women’s side.

“I commend UNLV for swimming great and being prepared for us,” said UW head coach Tom Johnson. “We fell behind early in the 200 medley relay and 1000 freestyles and couldn’t catch back up.”

On the diving boards, Stephanie Ortiz won both the one-meter (291.52 points) and three-meter (306.30) diving events for the Cowgirls. The Cowboys also swept both boards, with Mark Murdock winning the three-meter with a score of 360.97 and Tyler Miller posting a score of 295.05 to win the one-meter.

In the pool, the UNLV women won the first two events and jumped ahead early. The three individual event winners for the Cowgirls were Stephanie Vint in the 200 freestyle (1 minute, 53.64 seconds), Cassie Stelow in the 50 freestyle (23.77) and Shelby Bull in the 100 freestyle (53.35).

The UNLV men also were able to jump to an early lead and won all but two events. Individual winners for the Pokes were senior Eli Bell in the 200 freestyle (1:42.74) and Marshall Dilworth in the 200 backstroke (1:53.18).

“Our divers looked amazing as usual today, but we lost too many close races,” Johnson said. “We need to put this one away and get ready for two big meets next weekend.”

The UW swimming and diving team will remain in MWC dual meets next weekend on the road. On Friday, UW will take on Utah at 5 p.m., and BYU on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Before the start of the meet seven seniors were honored. Krista Jones, Aimee Stinson, Eli Bell, Devin Hougardy, Alex Larkin, Tyler Miller, and Matt Urich competed in their last dual meet in Corbett Pool.