Cowboys, Cowgirls finish third at MWC swim championships

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- It proved to be one of the best ever Mountain West Conference Championships for the the University of Wyoming swimming and diving program.

For the meet, the Ccowboys and Cowgirls combined for three individual champions, 16 total school records, one MWC record, the diving Coach of the Year award, the Diver of the Year award and both teams finished in third place.

The Cowboys matched their highest finish ever, while the Cowgirls have never been higher than fourth before this year.

UNLV won the men’s championships with 886.5 points, followed by Air Force (613), Wyoming (551), BYU (539.5), TCU (401), and Utah (326).

For the women, BYU took home the conference title followed by UNLV (585.5), Wyoming (483), Utah (468.5), CSU (452.5), San Diego State (375), TCU (354.5), New Mexico (211), and Air Force (128).

After the meet, Wyoming diving coach Ben Herdt was awarded with the 2009 MWC Diving Coach of the Year for both the men’s and women’s side. Junior Stephanie Ortiz had a phenomenal season and was named MWC Co-Diver of the Year.

"All-in-all, I am proud of our women’s team. It came close at the end but they rallied and surprised me this week," said UW head coach Tom Johnson said. "The divers were incredible. I am very proud of Ben winning coach of the year and Stephanie winning diver of the year. The men were able to hold on to third and end a good week."

On Saturday in the pool, the top Cowgirl swim came from sophomore Lesley Young. A day after winning the 100 breaststroke, Young took second in the 200 breaststroke in 2 minutes, 14.66 seconds to set the school record. Following Young was Kaella Hartigan in 14th after touching the wall in 2:24.95.

Another school record on Saturday came from Cassie Stelow, who finished 11th in the 100 freestyle in 51.00. Teammate Shelby Bull was close behind in 13th in 51.11.

Two Cowgirls finished in the top 10 in the 200 butterfly event. Kari Budd placed ninth in 2:04.04, while Stephanie Vint was 10th in 2:04.83.

In the 1650 freestyle, senior Aimee Stinson placed ninth in 17:09.15, while Carol Jones placed 16th (17:21.57) and sister Krista Jones was 23rd (17:41.08). In other events on the day, Caroline Wells took 13th in the 200 backstroke (2:01.75).

In the final race of the day the Cowgirls broke one more record, as they swam a time of 3:24.88 in the 400 freestyle relay and finished fifth.

"Lesley was in the lead seven of the eight lengths, but was just out-touched at the end. She had a super swim in that event and did a great job this week. Our relay was a nice performance, and Cassie did a tremendous job breaking the school record in the 50 freestyle twice today," Johnson said.

For the Pokes, the best race of the day was the 200 breaststroke. Senior Alex Larkin won the preliminary round, but took third place in 1:57.97, and teammate Brandon Fischer was fifth in 2:00.62.

After winning the 100 backstroke on Friday night, freshman Marshall Dilworth finished eighth in the 200 butterfly in 1:50.87. In the 200 butterfly, fellow freshman Tyler Kybartas took fifth in 1:46.60, while senior Matt Urich was eighth in 1:49.05.

In the 1650 freestyle, Robbie Hilton placed sixth in 15:33.85, the third fastest time in school history. Kyle Wemhoff was eighth (15:34.46), fourth fastest all-time; Brett Henehan 11th (15:38.85); Sam Holmes was 12th (15:42.52), and Matt Jones 20th (16:25.58).

On the diving boards, Mark Murdock set a school record in the preliminary round with a dive total of 346.45 points and was seeded first. Murdock finished second with 335.30. Kyle Bogner and Tyler Miller were fifth and sixth respectively.

"The 400 freestyle relay was DQ’ed, so for three of our divers to be in the top six on the platform was beyond huge," said Johnson. "The divers got us over the hump and were the reason we were able to hold off BYU.

"In the poo.l the 1650 free was a huge race for us today. I am real proud of our distance program. Robbie and Kyle picked up a ton of points. Marshall had a super swim in the morning, but didn’t have the legs in the finals.

"Eli had a tough swim in the 200 freestyle but still managed to do well. I am very proud of Alex who didn’t swim as well in the 100 breaststroke, but swam hard in the 200. We can only hope to continue the pressure on the other teams in the conference and keep our goal at winning a title."

Next up the UW diving team will be the NCAA Zone "E" Diving Championships March 12-14 in Austin, Texas.