Denver Swimming Upends No. 24 Boise State

DENVER – Denver swimming pulled off a bit of an upset with a 158-141 victory against No. 24 Boise State.

Denver Press Release

It was senior night in El Pomar Natatorium for the Pioneers Women’s Swimming and Diving as they took on Boise State. The Broncos came into today’s meet ranked 24th in the country. Boise also came into Denver as the top rated Mid-Major team in the country. The Pioneers won the meet 158-141 over Boise.

Coach Schrader was elated by the team performance especially from the seniors who were honored tonight. “This was a great meet with great effort from our seniors. We got the win and also our first win against a top 25 team in a dual meet.” Schrader’s praise of the senior class continued “I am so proud of our seniors that they have lead us to this point. Sam Corea and Bridgette McNally were great, both getting wins tonight.” “This Senior class has been vital to our success and to have us where we are today,” praised Coach Schrader. Freshman Maddie Myers (Arvada, Colo.) grabbed Coaches attention tonight “as a freshman I am excited for her to come on and put up a strog performance like she did tonight.”

Two new pool records were set tonight. First was the 200 yard medley relay where the quartet of Johanna Roas (Munich, Germany), Amanda Sanders (Superior, Colo.), Sam Corea (Vancouver, BC), and Drew Matthews (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Can.) set a new pool record of 1:43.29. Sam Corea added another record to her accomplishments with a pool record in the 100 yard butterfly. Her time now stands above the rest in El Pomar Natatorium with a time of 53.45.

Boise State Press Release

No. 24 Boise State dropped its first dual meet of the season Thursday night, falling 158-141 to Denver at El Pomar Natatorium.

The Broncos are now 3-1 on the season in dual meets with two remaining before the Mountain West Championships.

“We knew this would likely be our tightest meet of the season, particularly coming straight here from our training in San Diego,” said Boise State head coach Kristin Hill. “But we knew Denver would also be training very hard, so it would come down to the wire. We did have some great swims tonight. Our divers got us off to a lead and we really appreciated their performance on the boards.

“Katelyn Martin had outstanding speed in all of her races,” Hill continued. “Felicity Cann raced a tough field very well for the win in the 200 free, and Jessica Bottelberghe was very resilient in the 200 fly, coming away with a win in a tight race.”

Senior diver Erin Kohlbeck was one of the Broncos’ top standouts at the meet, sweeping the 1- and 3-meter events and setting the pool record in the latter with a career-best score of 320.85. Kohlbeck topped the 1-meter field with a score of 274.95.

Sophomores Karli Kriewall (280.43) and Jordan Marthens (249.00) rounded out a Boise State top-3 sweep on 3-meter, while Marthens also took fourth on 1-meter (239.03). Behind those performances in the opening two events, the Broncos were able to take an early 28-10 lead in the dual.

“The divers did a nice job today. Erin opened up the meet by taking down Denver’s 3-meter pool record,” said Bronco diving head coach John Lynch. “It was a great way to start the second half of her senior campaign.”

Boise State would capture just five of the 14 swimming events on the program, however. Sophomore Felicity Cann (200 free), senior Jessica Bottelberghe (200 fly), sophomore Brittany Aoyama (50 free) and junior Sam Wicks (200 IM) picked up individual wins while the quartet of Aoyama, Katelyn Martin, Bottelberghe and Wicks was victorious in the finale, the 200 free relay.

Wicks, Sydney Johansen, Aoyama and Martin dropped a hotly-contested 200 medley relay in the opening swimming event, as Martin touched the pad in 1:43.48, just 0.19 of a second behind Denver’s winning quartet of Johanna Roas, Amanda Sanders, Sam Corea and Drew Matthews. Denver would make it two in a row as Maddie Myers took the 1,000 free in 10:24.42, eight seconds ahead of runner up Blake Balogh (10:32.73).

Cann notched Boise State’s first race win of the night in the fifth event, the 200 free. The Tacoma, Wash. native clocked a winning time of 1:51.87, edging teammate Emma Chard by 0.98 of a second.

Boise State got its second win three events later, as Bottelberghe captured the 200 fly in 2:03.35. Aoyama would give the Broncos back-to-back wins by taking the 50 free in 23.55 with Martin touching just six-hundredths of a second later.

Denver captured top-two finishes in the next two events, the 100 free and 200 back, to begin a five-event run that was snapped by Wicks’ victory in the 200 IM. The Anchorage, Alaska native clocked a 2:05.16 as the only Bronco in the top four, then was part of the 200 free relay team that captured the finale in 1:33.79.

“Winning the final two events was a highlight,” Hill noted. “Sam raced very well for the win in the 200 IM, and our 200 free relay team of Brittany, Katelyn, Jessica and Sam closed the meet out with great speed.”

Boise State returns to action in two weeks, hosting Wyoming Saturday, Jan. 24 at the Boise West YMCA. The dual against the Cowgirls is set for a noon start.

Results: Denver vs. Boise State

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