COLUMBIA, Mo. (11/18/21) – Day 2 of the Missouri Invitational featured numerous University of Wyoming swimmers & divers in the A finals. In the 10 individual events that were contested Thursday at the Mizzou Aquatic Center, seven of them featured multiple Cowboys and Cowgirls.

"We had a tough and gutsy lineup today," head coach Dave Denniston said. "I'm proud of this team."

Wyoming remained in third on both the men's and women's sides. The Cowboys have compiled 384.50 points, and the Cowgirls have racked up 422.50 points. Missouri leads both team standings.

Among those races that included multiple UW swimmers, freshman Kayla Cunningham boasted the best finish. She took third in the 400-yard individual medley, clocking in at 4:21.62. Sophomore Isabel Rich took eighth with a time of 4:34.84.

The 400-yard individual medley was littered with UW student-athletes. Senior Thomas Diaz paced the Cowboys' contingent, taking sixth with a time of 3:59.81, while sophomores Andrew Columbus and Luke Walker placed seventh and eighth with times of 4:04.28 and 4:06.18, respectively.

Freshman Rachel Horne placed fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke, swimming a time of 1:02.39. Sophomore Carly Palmer touched eighth with a time of 1:04.05.

Fifth-year Katelynn Blattner finished fifth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.66. Fellow senior Lainee Jones wasn't far behind, taking sixth in a time of 1:49.36.

Sophomore Reilly Gilbert placed sixth in the 100-yard butterfly, registering a time of 49.04. Freshman Gavin Smith finished eighth with a time of 49.77.

Smith also finished eighth in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 1:42.15. Senior Ryan Netzel swam a 1:39.91 to finish seventh.

The 100-yard backstroke rounded out the strong individual day for Wyoming in the swimming events. Junior Andrew Rodriguez took seventh, clocking in at 49.18, and sophomore Max DeYoung placed eighth with a time of 49.33.

"We had another 10-plus personal-bests today," Denniston said. "The freshmen crushed it today, and our sprinters continue to impress."

Much like the swimmers, the divers also made their presence felt in the A finals. Sophomore Juan Gonzalez and senior Brendan Byrnes finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 3-meter competition, accumulating scores of 319.15 and 273.10.  

Junior Melissa Mirafuentes led the women's divers. She placed third in the 1-meter event, collecting 286.75 points.

The Missouri Invite concludes Friday with another day of preliminaries races in the morning followed by finals in the evening.