HOUSTON, Texas (Feb. 27, 2019) – The Wyoming Cowboys swimming and diving teams had a solid first day of the WAC Championship and currently sit second-place with 95 points. Grand Canyon leads the way with 114 points, while UNLV is right on the Cowboys heels in third with 94 points.

Senior Ryan Russi, sophomore Elijah Chan and freshman Brendan Byrnes all qualified for the 1-meter final after finishing in the top eight of the prelims. Russi led the way in first after a score of 290.60 to advance to the finals. Byrnes also moved onto the finals with a then career-best mark of 269.35 to place third, while Chan finished eighth with a score of 248.50.

All three divers would improve on their scores from the morning. Russi would record a third-place finish with a score of 297.00. Byrnes earned points and placed sixth for the Cowboys with a career-best mark of 271.30. Chan would follow one place behind scoring 259.90 to finish seventh.

Later in the day, the relay team of senior David Murphy, juniors Tyler Klatt and PJ Musser plus sophomore Brayden Love earned a sixth place finish with season best time of 1:28.39 in the 200-yard medley. In the 800-freestyle relay, freshman Austin Crump, Ryan Netzel and juniors Jacob Harlan and Seth Borgert posted a season-best time of 6:31.93 earning them fifth place.

The day will begin with the 500-yard freestyle prelims at 9:30 a.m. MT tomorrow. Links to live results and live streaming, can be found on the schedules tab at gowyo.com. Follow @wyo_swim for updates.