Boise State Maintains Lead In Mountain West; Apostalon, Herrington Set Records

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, February 21. BOISE State held its lead through day three in the team standings at the Mountain West Conference Championships, while San Diego State’s Anika Apostalon broke her second conference record of the meet and UNLV’s Katelyne Herrington added another Friday night in San Antonio.

Mountain West Conference Press Release

Boise State continues to lead the field in team scoring through day three of the 2014 Mountain West Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the Palo Alto Aquatic Center in San Antonio, Texas with 477 points through 14 events. San Diego State stayed in second place with 458.5 points, followed by Nevada in third with 319 points. Wyoming currently sits in fourth place with 280 points and UNLV is in fifth with 221.5 points. New Mexico is sixth in the standings with 218 points, followed by San José State (198), Air Force (193), Colorado State (131) and Fresno State (126).

San Diego State freshman Anika Apostalon set an MW Championship record in the 100-yard backstroke in the morning prelims with a time of 52.28, before breaking it in the finals with an MW all-time record of 51.92. It is the second day in a row that the Aztec freshman set a record in the prelim heats, only to establish a new one in the finals. The record time also gives Apostalon an NCAA ‘A’ cut and a spot at nationals. Boise State sophomore Samantha Wicks placed second in 53.38, while Wyoming senior Morgan Hartigan finished third with a time of 53.55. Wicks, Hartigan and New Mexico freshman Kaela McKee (53.63) each posted NCAA ‘B’ cut times in the finals race.

UNLV senior Katelyne Herrington set an MW all-time record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 51.48 in Friday’s finals, surpassing the mark of 52.18 that she set in the 2013 Championships prelims. Herrington’s time sends her to NCAA nationals for the third consecutive year in the event. Boise State freshman Brittany Aoyama placed second at 52.16, followed by Wyoming sophomore Molly Coonce at 53.72. Aoyama, Coonce and the quartet of Loreen Whitfield (Jr., SDSU, 54.04), Ashlyn Acosta (Sr., SJSU, 54.09), Jessica Bottelberghe (Jr., BSU, 54.43) and Claudia Carlson (Jr., WYO, 53.85) paced a group of six additional swimmers that clocked NCAA B cuts in the event.

Nevada freshman Teresa Baerens won the 200-yard freestyle on Friday night with a time of 1:46.56, just 0.2 off of the Championship record set last season by former Wolf Pack swimmer Mengjiao Mi. Boise State freshman Felicity Cann and San Diego State sophomore Natilee Ruiz placed second (1:46.99) and third (1:47.15), respectively. The top six times in the finals were NCAA provisional marks, including Jordan Denny (Jr., WYO, 1:47.21), Jessica Heim (Sr., UNLV, 1:47.24) and Savannah Miller (So., SDSU, 1:47.24).

San Diego State won its fourth relay of the meet, the 400-yard medley, with a MW all-time record and NCAA ‘B’ cut mark of 3:35.13. Boise State finished second with an NCAA provisional time of 3:35.77, while Wyoming took third after touching the wall in 3:38.97.

Nevada sophomore Yawen Li led the group of seven swimmers logging NCAA ‘B’ cuts in the evening heats of the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:07.09. San Diego State senior Mikaela Macklin finished second in 4:07.32, a reverse of the 1-2 spots from the 2013 final. Air Force junior Kimberly Davis rounded out the medal stand in third (4:16.11) for the second straight year. Others swimming provisional times in the finals were Whitney Jorgensen (Fr., BSU, 4:17.05), Frida Berggren (Fr., SDSU, 4:18.57), Brooke Balogh (Sr., BSU, 4:18.86) and Esme Gullick (Fr., FS, 4:18.69).

San Diego State sophomore Laura Day grabbed her first MW individual crown in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.73, just edging out Boise State junior Heather Harper (1:01.81) and New Mexico senior Ashley Blanchette (1:01.98). The top seven times in the race were NCAA ‘B’ cuts with the addition of Darcie Anderson (Sr., SJSU, 1:02.20), Sydney Johansen (Jr., BSU, 1:02.27), Kira Schlosberg (Fr., Air Force, 1:02.37) and Molly Coonce (So., Wyoming, 1:02.42).

Day four events begin with the 200-yard backstroke preliminaries at 11 a.m. CT. The finals competition starts at 6 p.m. CT with the recognition of all MW seniors involved in the meet. The 2014 MW Women’s Swimming & Diving team champion will be crowned at the end of the night.

A free, live webstream of every session is available on TheMW.com (http://www.themw.com/#!/watch-live) with finals highlights available on the MW Championship Central page (http://www.themw.com/#!/page/championship_c-swim) at the conclusion of each day.

Fans can also direct their mobile devices to TheMW.com for live streams, live results, team scores, highlights and more information from the meet.

Results For: Mountain West Conference Championships, Day Three

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