HOUSTON, Texas (2/26/22) – The University of Wyoming swimming & diving team was tabbed as the fifth-best team in the six-team Western Athletic Conference Pre-Championship poll. That proved to be quite inaccurate.

The Cowboys finished up third as a team. Wyoming compiled 588.33, while UNLV won with 845.50 points and Air Force placed second after collecting 630.50 points.

"While we didn't win the championship, we exceeded expectations and proved our program is capable of winning," head coach Dave Denniston said. "Going into this meet we were unanimously picked to get fifth as a team. No one guessed we would be in first after two nights and racing for second on the last day."

Juniors Andrew Rodriguez and Thomas Diaz led the way for Wyoming individually on Saturday with a pair of third-place finishes. Rodriguez went 1:46.06 in the 200-yard backstroke, and Diaz went 1:46.74 in the 200-yard butterfly.

Sophomore Luke Walker also participated in the 200 back A final. He placed seventh with a time of 1:48.03.

Senior Miller Browne and junior Robert Mitchell took 11th and 13th, respectively, in the B final of the 200 back, clocking in at 1:49.04 and 1:49.87.

Sophomores Harry Tjaden, Reilly Gilbert and Luke Walker littered the B final of the 200 fly. Tjaden went 1:48.84 to place 11th, while Gilbert and Walker clocked in at 1:49.37 and 1:50.09, respectively, to place 12th and 14th.

Senior Grant Sloan competed in the B final of the 100-yard freestyle, finishing 13th with a time of 44.64.

Junior David Mihalic and sophomore John Wargin swam in the B final of the 200-yard breaststroke. Mihalic logged a 12th-place finish with a time of 2:00.90, while Wargin registered a time of 2:01.02.

Sophomore Andrew Columbus touched 14th in the 1,650-yard freestyle, clocking in at 16:07.14. Junior Robert Mitchell wasn't far behind, taking 15th with a time of 16:08.05.

The 400-yard freestyle relay capped the meet touching fourth. The collection of Sloan, Rodriguez, freshman Gavin Smith and senior Ryan Netzel recorded a time of 3:00.88.

"It was a really fun meet with great racing," Denniston said. "Our swimmers raced in 63 events and produced 55 lifetime-best times."

The Zone E Diving Championships represents the next competition. That takes place March 9-14 in Flagstaff, Arizona.