LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 9, 2019) – The Wyoming swimming and diving teams closed out the weekend with a split on Saturday in its double dual meet with conference foe Colorado State and Washington State. The Cowgirls (5-2 overall, 2-1 MW) recorded a solid 202-151 victory over the Rams but dropped a tough one, 181-166, against the Cougars.
Friday night the Cowgirls would get the meet off to solid start, competing in both in both the 1 and 3- meter diving events and ten swimming competitions. Saturday would only consist of nine swimming events.
In the 200 medley relay, the team of freshman Emily Giles, sophomore Phoebe Browne, junior Hannah Mclean-Leonard and sophomore Sani Carsrud got it started for the Cowgirls with a first place finish and a time of 1:45.36. Junior Katelyn Blattner, sophomores Andrea Niemann and Kira Crane plus senior Kiana Junior would take fourth with a time of 1:47.01.
"I thought our relays really performed above what our expectations where and they did a nice job both at the beginning and end of the meet on Friday." head coach Dave Denniston said. "Our divers coming away with the top spot in both boards was also a huge boost for our team and program."
In the next event, it would be a one-two finish for the Cowgirls. Senior Daniela Luna Rocha led the way with a first place finish in the 1650 freestyle clocking a final time of 17:32.47. Freshman Olivia Staver would place second with a time of 18:00.08 while senior Astrid Iturbe had a time of 18:04.70 for a fourth place finish.
The Cowgirls would get their next one-two finish in the 200 freestyle led by a solid performance from sophomore Lainee Jones who clocked a season-best time of 1:51.75. Blattner would follow closely behind in second with a time of 1:53.37.
The Cowgirls would end Friday night with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Blattner, Carsrud, Jones and Mclean-Leonard would out touch both Washington State and Colorado State to take the win in a season-best time of 3:30.53.
In the 3-meter event, it would be a very strong outing for the Cowgirls. It would be led by freshman Melissa Mirafuentes who would win the event with a score of 348.68. It was not only a career-best mark, but it's the third best score all-time in school history. Redshirt junior Karla Contreras and sophomore McKenna Houlihan would place second and third in the event with scores of 320.63 and 251.18, respectively. Senior Abigail Zoromski would finish sixth with a final score of 233.33 and Makena Sanger finished in tenth with a mark of 183.60.
In the 1-meter, it would be more of the same as Contreras would take the top spot with a score 284.63. Mirafuentes would finish in a very close second tallying a total of 284.40, which was a career-best. Houlihan placed in fifth recording a score of 219.60. Zoromski and Sanger would finish seventh and ninth with scores of 197.70 and 182.10, respectively.
On Saturday, the 400-yard medley team of Blattner, sophomores Niemann, Avery Otto-Horn and Carsrud touched the wall in a time of 3:53.28 to begin the competition. Staver followed up her 1,000 freestyle performance with a time of 5:15.20 in the 500 free to place fourth.
"I felt that Katelyn (Blattner) and Emily (Giles) really took control of the competition for us today 400 medley relay then coming back a few events later to compete individually in the backstroke," Denniston added. "Hannah (Mclean-Leonard) continues to be a hammer for us and reliable in the butterfly events. Her win was a big boost for us. We had good energy from the team, but the first time with two sessions back to back I thought we maybe came out a little flat this morning. Overall, the environment and culture of this team is at a high level, fun to be around and we need to translate that to winning results in the pool."
Blattner had another strong showing with a first place performance and a season-best time of 2:01.44 in the 200 backstroke. Giles touched the wall in a time of 2:07.76 for a fourth place spot on the podium.
In the 100 breaststroke, sophomore Phoebe Browne recorded a season-best time of 1:05.15 for a second place finish as did fellow sophomore Rylie Pilon to place fifth in 1:07.84.
Mclean-Leonard continued her strong showing in the 100 butterfly with a top place finish and time of 55.94.Carsrud recorded a second place finish in the 100 freestyle with a season-best time of 52.92.
Washington State would hold a six point lead, 168-162 over the Cowgirls headed into the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. It was a real battle and came down to the very last touch. Wyoming would place third in the event with a time of 1:36.44.
Both men's and women's program will be back in action on Friday to host the Corbett Invite. Friday's events are set to begin at 4 p.m. MT while Saturday is scheduled for 10 a.m.
