Air Force vs. Wyoming

LARAMIE, Wyoming, February 5. THE University of Wyoming Cowboy and Cowgirl swimming and diving teams defeated the Air Force Falcons on Saturday in Corbett Pool.

The Cowgirls (11-4, 5-3 Mountain West Conference) defeated Air Force (2-10, 0-8 MWC) 175-112, while the Cowboys (6-5, 2-3 MWC) defeated the Falcons (11-6, 2-3 MWC), 165-135.

“The women’s meet was a nice go for us today,” Wyoming head swimming coach Tom Johnson said. “Air Force is a much improved team they have a lot more girls out and have added a lot more talent.”

The Wyoming women dominated the meet from the very beginning winning 14 of 16 events. The 200 yard medley relay team of Caroline Wells, Morgan Hartigan, Stephanie Vint and Kelsey Conci defeated their nearest Falcon competitors by three seconds with a time of 1:48.26.

The Cowgirls would continue on to win the next seven consecutive events. Kasey Robinson won the 1000 freestyle (10:59.61), Vint picked up a win in the 200 free (1:55.03), Mackenzie Norlin won the 100 backstroke (1:01.11), Lesley Young touched the wall first in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.28), Leah Roesler won the 200 butterfly (2:07.96), Shelby Bull won the 50 free (24.06) and Nikki Finnesand won the 100 free with a time of 53.75.

The first loss of the day for the UW women came in the 200 backstroke, but they would pick up right where they left off winning five more events on the day. Meghan Swirzcki won for the Cowgirls in the 200 breast (2:26.63), Jessy Badaracco won the 500 free (5:13.77). Following Badaracco, Roesler picked up her second win of the day in the 100 fly (57.95), and Hartigan won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:10.94.

“Leah was unbelievable today she swam her two best times of the season in the 100 and 200 fly,” Johnson added.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Bull, Conci, Vint and Paige Fischer also won for the Cowgirls with a time of 3:33.51.

“We were able to swim some off events today,” Johnson added. “I really made the freshmen carry the load a lot today.”

On the men’s side the dual was much closer and was decided in just a few races, as well as on the diving boards.

“The diving boards really carried it for the men today,” Johnson said. “The kicker (of the meet) was the 200 free when we went one-two-three.”

The Cowboy ‘A’ 200 medley relay team (1:32.62) of Marshall Dilworth, Nate Ladner, Nick Rutecki and Jeff Frey were just touched out by the Falcons (1:32.47) to start the dual, but the Cowboys would battle to come away with the overall victory.

Picking up three key wins for the Cowboys today was Brandon Fischer in the 100 breast (56.66), the 200 breast (2:06.04) and the 200 IM (1:55.65).

Other Cowboys picking up victories were, Ethan Griffel in the 200 freestyle (1:41.11), Dilworth in the 100 back (51.49) and Tyler Kybartas in the 500 freestyle (4:42.05).

Today’s diving rounds saw five records set including; two school records and three Corbett Pool records. In the first round of diving Cowboy Mark Murdock broke the pool record on the 1-meter springboard with a score of 374.55. Murdock would not be done with his record setting day moving on to set the school and the pool record on the 3-meter springboard with a score of 414.45. Kyle Bogner placed second on both the 1-meter (366.83) and the 3-meter (359.48), while Derek Campbell placed third with scores of 282.75 on the 1-meter and 263.70 on the 3-meter.

On the women’s side Cowgirl Allie Smith swept both boards on her way to breaking a Corbett Pool and school record on the 1-meter. Smith put up a score of 320.55 on the 1-meter which was good enough for both the Corbett Pool and UW school record. Smith also placed first on the 3-meter board with a mark of 280.05. Carolyn Wallace followed Smith on both boards with mark of 260.85 on the 1-meter and 243.45 on the 3-meter. Following Wallace, Amanda Fay placed third on both boards with scores of 252.90 on 1-meter and 218.85 on 3-meter.

“Everyone really dove great today,” UW diving coach Pat Bukowski said. “The lights were on today and every really came out and performed well. Mark and Allie both really did awesome today, the stage was there and they went out showed what they can do.”

“This is what both teams needed,” Johnson concluded. “Had we swam like this all year we would have won a lot more meets. I think we need to take this momentum into conference because if we do we can finish very highly and if we don’t we can be last.”

Wyoming Swimming and Diving will now have a break for training before they return to the pool for the MWC Championships in Oklahoma City, beginning on Wednesday Feb. 23.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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