Cowgirl swimmers stop UNLV

LAS VEGAS -- The Wyoming cowgirls swim team remained unbeaten with an impressive 196.5-102.5 win over UNLV Friday night. The Pokes came in as huge underdog’s and took UNLV down to the wire, but came up short with a 154.5-139.5 loss.

The Cowgirl victory advances their unblemished record to 10-0 overall and 3-0 in the MWC. The Cowboys are now 4-3 overall and 0-2 in the league. For UNLV, the men advance their overall mark to 5-1 and 3-0 in the conference, while the women drop to 1-7 and 1-4 in the MWC.

"All in all, it was a great meet for us and we swam well," said UW head coach Tom Johnson. "The women came out and won the first race and never looked back. The men’s meet was nip and tuck the whole way and made it very close at the end."

The Cowgirls won 14 of 15 events, including two Cowgirls winning multiple events and three divers earning NCAA Zone "E" qualifying scores.

In the pool, the Cowgirls were led by junior Stephanie Vint and freshman Paige Fischer. Vint won three individual events and anchored the 400 freestyle relay that placed fourth. Vint’s victories came in both the 100 (57.82 seconds) and 200 (2:05.46) butterflies, along with the 400 IM (4:24.31). Fischer took over the distance events for the Cowgirls winning both the 1000 freestyle (10:21.62) and 500 freestyle (5:03.26).

Other individual winners for UW were Kelsey Conci in the 100 backstroke (57.45), Lesley Young in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.50), Cassie Stelow in the 50 freestyle (23.35), Shelby Bull in the 100 freestyle (51.73) and Lauren Hewson in the 200 breaststroke (2:20.91). The Cowgirls also won the 200 medley relay in 1:45.56, and 400 freestyle relay in 3:27.47.

The Cowgirl divers swept both the one-meter and three-meter springboards. Emily Huth earned a Zone qualifying score by placing first on one-meter with a score of 285.53 points. Stephanie Ortiz and Allie Smith were second and third respectively and also earned Zone marks. On three-meter, Smith led the way in first with another Zone score of 285.38. Huth and Ortiz finished in second and third.

"The divers dominated today with the Zone scores. They have been great all week," Johnson said. "Vint won three events and swam really well. Paige (Fischer) continued her impressive times in the 1000 freestyle and remains unbeaten in that event this year. Stelow and Bull had tremendous swims as well. We were deep today and had a great team effort."

The Pokes took the defending conference champions to the last race before the winner was decided. Individually, sophomore Brandon Fischer led the charge by winning three events of his own. Fischer won both the 100 (56.67) and 200 (2:03.39) breaststrokes, as well as the 400 IM (4:04.91).

Other individual winners today include Marshall Dilworth in the 100 backstroke (50.52) and Nathan Fuller in the 200 backstroke (1:51.69). On the diving boards, the Cowboys also swept both their boards. On one-meter Mark Murdock led the way with a Zone qualifying score of 320.85 and finished first. Teammate Kyle Bogner was second and also qualified for Zones with 318.83. The two Cowboy divers then switched placed on three-meter. Bogner was first with 341.25, while Murdock was second with 291.53. Bogner’s three-meter score is also a Zone qualifying score.

"We had another relay DQ’ed today that could have cost us the meet. That is something we definitely need to get better at. The divers were tremendous with their Zone scores today," Johnson said. "Guys like Fischer, Dilworth, Fuller, and Henehan were studs today. We just need to find a way to win a few more events."

The Wyoming teams return home for a pair of meets next week, hosting Utah Friday at 5 p.m. and BYU Saturday at noon.

Indoor sprinters compete at Air Force

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The University of Wyoming track and field team had seven sprinters compete in the Air Force All-Comers meet on Friday.

The Cowboys had four compete in the 60-meter hurdles and all ran very well. They were led by freshman Brandon Douglass with a second-place finish and time of 8.41 seconds, which was a personal best and time that was good for seventh all-time in UW history. Douglas was followed by senior Kekoa Chavez with his fifth place finish and personal best time of 8.63.

The Cowgirls had three athletes compete in the 60-meter hurdles and were led by senior Jennifer Schmitz and freshman Katy Hall. Schmitz ran a 8.89, good for third place while Hall ran a personal best 8.93, good for fourth place and a time that ranks eighth all-time in Cowgirl history.

“I was very happy with the way that we ran today,” said UW head coach Don Yentes. “We are farther along than I thought we would be at this point after having six weeks between meets, and it was a great for some of our sprinters to run against some competition, instead of just practicing.”

The Cowboys and Cowgirls will compete as a team Friday in the Potts Invite in Boulder, Colo.