Cowboys Win Early Bird Invite and Host Colorado State Wins Women

LARAMIE, WYO, October 23. THE University of Wyoming men’s swimming and diving team won the 2004 Colorado State Early Bird Invite over Friday and Saturday, while the women placed third behind the host, Colorado State, in Ft. Collins, Colo.

The school reported that their men’s squad finished with 1,119.50 team points well ahead of the second place Denver Pioneers who finished with 969 points. Air Force (867.50), Colorado (296), the Colorado School of Mines (282 and Metro State (177) rounded out the field.

CSU placed first on the women’s side finishing with 1,152 team points. Denver (813.50), Wyoming (810.50), New Mexico (707.50), the Colorado School of Mines (128.50), Colorado (86), Metro State (84) and Nebraska-Kearney (47) rounded out the women’s field.

Saturday, the Cowboys earned first place finishes in 12 of 14 events, including all three relays. The 200 medley relay team of freshman Carl Marais, senior Scott Usher, junior Gene Birks and senior Bryce Perica swam a first place time of 1:33.55. The 800 freestyle relay team of Birks, freshman Henry Holmberg, Kritzinger and Marais swam a 7:00.77 and the 800 freestyle relay team of Marais, Birks, Kritzinger and Perica swam a 3:10.29.

Individually, Marais won three events. He swam to first place times in the 200 freestyle (1:42.15), the 100 backstroke (50.83) and the 200 backstroke (1:51.45). Usher won both breaststroke events swimming a 57.01 in the 100 and a 2:04.71 in the 200. Birks won both the 100 butterfly (49.76) and the 100 freestyle (46.58). Sophomore Ron Fogel won the 200 butterfly in a time of 1:57.26. On the 1-meter diving board, sophomores Kevin Bretting (263.70) and John Lynch (255.65) along with senior Adam Miller (249.52) swept the top-three of the board.

For the Cowgirls, junior Alex Leziy-Miller and sophomore Heidi Thorson captured the only first place finishes of the meet.
Leziy-Miller won the 200 breaststroke (2:25.06) and Thorson won the 100 butterfly (58.90). Sophomore Tamara Lehnertz swam to a second place time of 1:55.67 in the 200 freestyle.

In Friday’s action, the Cowboy 400 medley relay team of Marais, Usher, Birks and Kritzinger won the event in a time of 3:24.35. The Cowboys swept the 3-meter diving board with Lynch finishing first (473.50), Miller finishing second (429.50) and Bretting finishing third (401.40). Freshman Sam King won the 200 IM, swimming to a time of 1:57.63 and Marais finished second in the 50 freestyle in 21.82.

For the Cowgirls, Lehnertz finished third in the 500 freestyle in a time of 5:14.27. The 400 medley relay team of freshman Rachel Leyes, Leziy-Miller, Thorson and Lehnertz swam to a third place time of 4:01.03. Sophomore Saara Haapanen dove to a third place finish on the 1-meter board with a score of 214.50.

The swimming and diving teams will return to action in two weeks when they host Denver on Sat., Nov. 6. The dual is set to begin at 1 p.m. at Corbett Pool.

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