LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Feb. 19, 2021) – For the second day in a row, another conference title was achieved by the Cowgirl swimming program at the 2021 MW Championships on Friday. Senior Katelyn Blattner won her second title in as many days with a win in the 200 freestyle. It is back-to-back years she has taken home victories in both events.
 
The 200 freestyle saw some solid times out of the Cowgirls. Blattner followed up her victory in the 500 free last night with a time of 1:49.21 in the preliminaries to place second. In the finals, she and Julia Fillippova went down to the wire with Blattner edging her out with the best time of this season in the conference of 1:48.36.
 
"Katelyn (Blattner) is making her case for being swimmer of the meet in repeating as the 200 freestyle champion. It can only be described as a gutsy race to the finish," head coach Dave Denniston said. "Erin (Eccleston) started off today making the finals of the 400 IM and Hannah (Mclean-Leonard) is swimming like a leader. She was out touched at the finish of the 100 butterfly. We are grateful for the performance of the divers in Colorado Springs. The ladies are looking forward to swimming their last events tomorrow."
 
Junior Sani Carsrud went a season-best 1:51.20 to place 11^th in the same event followed by junior Lainee Jones with a 14^th place time of 1:51.54 in the event as well. They each finished with times of 1:52.01 and 1:51.16, respectively in the finals.
 
Wyoming sits in fourth with 653 points after the third day of competition at the MW Championships. San Diego State moved back to first with 926 followed by UNLV with 916 points and Nevada with 892.
 
To begin the evening session, the 200 free relay team of Kali Franckowiak, Hannah Mclean-Leonard, Kira Crane and Carsrud went a season-best 1:33.88, dropping almost a second off, for a sixth place finish.
 
In the 400 IM prelims, junior Erin Eccleston stormed out and knocked off almost six seconds her season-best to finish sixth with a time of 4:24.77. Freshman Isabel Rich also turned in a season-best with a time of 4:31.44. Sophomore Roxanna Ramirez went 4:33.50. Eccleston posted a time of 4:29.65 in the finals for an eighth place finish. Rich went 4:35.20 and Ramirez touched the wall in 4:36.45.
 
Mclean-Leonard went a first place time of 53.82 in the 100 butterfly preliminaries. Crane recorded a season-best time of 56.20. In the finals, Mclean-Leonard touched the wall in third with a time of 54.21, while Crane had a mark of 56.39 in the B Final.
 
The top finisher in the 100 breaststroke was senior Rylie Pilon with her tenth place time of 1:03.84. Rich knocked off almost a second for reach the C Final with a time of 1:04.65. Pilon went 1:03.93 in the B Final while Rich posted a time of 1:04.53.
 
In the 100 backstroke, sophomore Emily Giles moved to the B Final on the evening with a time of 56.68. Jones posted an 18^th place finish with a time of 58.00. Giles went a season-best mark of 56.51 and Jones touched the wall in 57.69.
 
On the 3-meter, sophomore Melissa Mirafuentes posted a second place finish of 319.10 in the preliminaries. She ended up second in the event behind Isabel Vazquez of Nevada with a season-best score of 330.15. Junior McKenna Houlihan continued her solid meet with a score of 241.05 to place 13^th and followed it up by improving her score by over 20 points, 262.15, to place third in the consolation final. Senior Abigail Zoromski posted a mark of 226.80 followed by sophomore Makena Sanger with a six dive score of 215.55.
 
The Cowgirls will wrap up the 2021 MW Championships tomorrow with prelims set to begin at 12 p.m. MT. The events to be completed will be the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 1650 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay. The diving squad will close out its week with the platform which is set to begin at 12 p.m. as well in Colorado Springs.
 
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