Houston, Texas (March 2, 2019) – Junior
Seth Borgert brought home his first career Western Athletic title in the 1,650 freestyle on the final day of the 2019 WAC Championship. He is the first Cowboy since Damian Storz in 2002 to win a title in the event.
Wyoming would move up one spot to finish third with 604 points. Grand Canyon took home the title with 688.5 points followed by California Baptist with 618.5 points. Air Force placed fourth behind the Cowboys with 593 points while UNLV had 493.5 to finish in fifth. Cal State Bakersfield was sixth and Seattle rounded out the field in seventh.
In the first event of the evening session, Borgert would record a personal best time of 15:25.28 to claim the conference title. The time eclipsed his previous career mark of 15:25.97 which he set last season and finished second at the championship meet. It also ranks third all-time on the Cowboys top ten list. Freshmen
Ryan Netzel would finish one spot behind Borgert in second with a personal best time of 15:27.77 while junior
Jacob Harlan would round out the great performance by finishing fifth with a time of 15:43.27.
In the 200 backstroke, junior
Tyler Klatt would be the lone Cowboy to qualify for the finals after he finished eighth in the prelims recording at the time a personal best 1:47.13 in the prelims. Freshman
Miller Browne and fellow junior
Sean Calkins would finish 15
th and 16
th with times of 1:49.83 and 1:50.61 respectively. The duo would earn a spot in the consolation finals. In the finals, Klatt would turn another personal best time of 1:46.76 on his way to a fifth place finish. The time ranks sixth all-time in school history. Browne placed 14
th with a time of 1:49.34 and Calkins touched the wall a time of 1:51.80 for 16th.
Junior
PJ Musser would record a time of 43.89 in the 100 freestyle prelims. The mark would not only earn him a spot in the finals but it would also move him up to second all-time in program history. Senior
David Murphy would also have a successful prelim race finishing 15
th with a time of 44.93 and earning a spot in the consolation finals. In the finals, Musser would clock a time of 44.16 which would earn him a seventh place finish while Murphy placed 14
th with a time of 44.95.
In the 200 breaststroke prelims, senior
Liam Holt would record a career-best time of 1:57.65 on his way to a third-place finish while sophomore
Mitchell Hovis placed sixth with a time of 1:59.94 as both Cowboys would earn a spot in the finals. Seniors
Loren Sether and
Laine Johansen would earn spot in the consolation finals after finishing 10
th and 14
th with times of 2:01.35 and 2:01.94. In the evening season, the duo would finish fourth and fifth with times of 1:58.65 and 1:59.57 respectively. In the consolation finals, Sether placed 11
th with a time of 2:01.52 while Johansen would record a time of 2:03.07 to finish in 16
th.
Sophomore
Brayden Love would once again qualify for the finals after posting a season-best time of 1:48.21 in the 200 butterfly prelims for an eighth-place finish. Fellow sophomore
Austin Crump would earn a spot in the consolation finals after finishing 15
th in the prelims with a time of 1:50.04. In the finals, Love would improve upon his prelim time recording a new personal best time of 1:46.94. Crump would clock a time of 1:48.05 in the consolation finals to place tenth.
In final race the of day, the team of Musser, freshmen
James Bouda and
Grant Sloan plus Murphy finished sixth in the 400 freestyle relay with a season-best time of 2:59.39.
In the prelims of the platform, all three Cowboys would record career high scores. Senior
Ryan Russi would finish second with a personal best mark of 300.90, freshman
Brendan Byrnes would take sixth with a score of 257.45 and sophomore
Elijah Chan finished seventh with a score of 250.40. In the finals, Russi would lead the Cowboys as he tallied a score of 280.40 placing fourth, Byrnes finished sixth with a score of 261.20 and Chan followed in seventh with a score of 241.40.
