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MEN'S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: OCT. 24-30
Air Force's Steffen Mount and Nicholas Piontek have been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 24-30.
Mount, a junior from Pensacola, Fla., was Air Force's top scorer in the dual meet against Wyoming, winning both of his individual events and as part of two relay wins. Individually he won the 50 free with a time of 20.72, which was posted as the 11th best swim of the meet. He then went on and collected another victory in the 100 fly with a time of 49.71, which was ranked as the 12th best swim. Mount contributed to the victory in the 200 medley relay as his team posted a time of 1:30.88 and later was victorious in the 400 free relay (3:01.84).
Piontek, a senior from Warrensburg, Mo., took home two victories in the dual meet against Wyoming. In the one-meter diving event, he posted a score of 285.83. He then competed in the three-meter board event and posted a score of 294.75.
WOMEN'S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: OCT. 24-30
CSU Bakersfield's Jayssie Haynes and Northern Arizona's Christina Torrente have been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 24-30.
Haynes, a sophomore from San Jose, Calif., helped her team win the tri-meet against Idaho and Hawaii. Haynes claimed the first place spot in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:09.92. She also placed second in both the 200 breast (2:19.20) and the 200 free (1:52.92). Her 200 breast time was good enough to be a WAC best this season and her 200 free places her second in the WAC. She then helped her relay team to a fourth place finish in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:54.74.
Torrente, a junior from Redmond, Wash., set new career-highs on both boards in the victory over New Mexico. She won the three-meter event with a score of 325.50 by almost 40 points over her next closest competitor. She was also the runner-up to her teammate on the one-meter board with a score of 292.13. Both of her scores were NCAA Zone qualifying scores.
OTHER ATHLETES OF THE WEEK NOMINEES
Other men's swimmer nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Lovre Soric who won the 200 free in the meet against Hawaii with a time of 1:42.44 and the 200 individual medley (1:54.19), while also coming in second in the 100 free (46.33) and 400 medley relay (3:22.15)... Wyoming's Wade Nelson won the 100 back (50.49), 200 individual medley and the 200 back, while helping his team come in second in the 200 medley relay (1:31.62).
Other women's swimmer nominees: Northern Arizona's Niamh McDonagh completed the meet against New Mexico with first place in both the 200 breast (2:23.99) and the 200 individual medley (2:07.19), a second place finish in the 100 breast (1:06.31) and helped her team to a first place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:45.67).
Other men's diver nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Adam Estrella finished second on both the one-meter (250.55) and the three-meter board (255.00).
Other women's diver nominee: Idaho's Maren Seljevold scored a 274.60 on the one-meter board for first place and got a 289.15 on the three-meter event for second place.
THIS WEEK IN WAC SWIMMING AND DIVING
AIR FORCE
The Air Force men's swimming and diving team dropped a close meet against Wyoming, 165-135, Saturday, Oct. 28, in Laramie, Wyo. Falcons won the opening event of the meet as the 200 medley relay team of Cole McAnany, Derek Brecht, Steffen Mount and Michael Hannigan won with a time of 1:30.88. The Falcons took second and third place in the 1000 free as Garrett Glaudini was second (9:45.82) and Collin Green was third (9:50.05). Sophomore Ben Brockman was second in the 200 free (1:41.70). In the 100 back, McAnany was second (50.63) while Joey Gebhart was third (51.10). In the 50 free, Mount won with a time of 20.72. Air Force swept the 3-meter diving as Nick Piontek won (294.75), Cole Armagost was second (231.23) and Jack Zocher was third (212.40). The Falcons took the top two spots in 1-meter diving as Piontek won (285.83) and Armagost was second (277.73).Ben Settle was second in the 200 back (28.54). Green was second in the 500 free (4:43.67). Mount won the 100 fly (49.71) and Kyle Bundesmann was second in the 200 IM (1:54.40). In the final race of the day, the Falcons won the 400 free relay as the team of Hannigan, McAnany, Knutson and Mount posted a time of 3:01.84.
CSU BAKERSFIELD
The CSU Bakersfield men's swimming and diving team had a home meet against one of the strongest programs in the country today, the University of Hawaii. Soric, a senior from Croatia, won the 200 free with a time of 1:42.44, also swam a 1:54.19 to win the 200 IM and finished second in the 100 free (46.33). Sophomore Noah Hultner from San Diego won the 1000 free with a time of 9:41.70. Chir finished second in the 100 breast (56.66) and third in the 200 breast (2.07.28). `Runners freshman Adam Estrella finished second in both the one meter and the three meter diving competition.
The CSU Bakersfield women's swimming and diving team hosted a tri-meet today against Western Athletic Conference rival Idaho and National power house University of Hawaii. CSUB defeated WAC rival Idaho behind a historic 200 breast from sophomore Jayssie Haynes.as she becomes the second fastest women in CSUB history in the 200 breast, with a time of 2:19.20. Haynes also finished second in the 200 free and first in the 200 IM (2:09.64). The native of San Jose continues to show what hard work in the off season can do for an athlete. Maddie Cosgrove, a sophomore from San Diego, won the 200 butterfly (2:07.02), finished second in the 100 free and also took second in the 100 butterfly. Senior Gabi Liedy from Highlands Ranch, CO, took second in the 1000 free with a time of 10:29.80. The meet came down to the last relay - Morgan King, Alisa Cooke, Taylor Cossu and Audrey Willoughby were able to pull off the win. King, Cooke, Cossu and Willoughby won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:37.91.
IDAHO
Emily Kliewer and Maren Seljevoldposted individual wins to lead Idaho women's swimming and diving at a tri-dual against Cal State Bakersfield and Hawai'i Saturday, in Bakersfield. Kliewer came away with a win in the 100-yard butterfly, whule Seljevold led a 1-2-3 finish for the Vandals on the one-meter springboard. The Vandals dropped both dual meets, narrowly falling to Cal State Bakersfield 152-147. Hawai'i won 180-110. The Roadrunners came away with the win thanks to a victory in the meet's final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. CSUB outtouched the Vandals by seven one-hundredths of a second. Kliewer, swimming anchor Idaho, made up one-tenth of a second, but could not reel in Audrey Willoughby on the final leg. Seljevold scored 274.60 on one-meter, edging out teammate Janelle Lucas' 271.55. Seljevold also finished second in the three-meter diving event, posting a 289.15. Her scores on both events are the best by a Vandal this season. Allie Magrino, Emma Schlyter and Lauren Votava posted some of Idaho's best individual times. Votava took second in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:10.15, the fastest time by a Vandal this season. Magrino was third in a tightly-contested 100-yard backstroke race. She used a massive back 50 to touch the wall in 58.37, just 14 one-hundredths of a second behind the winner. The 58.37 is Idaho's best time of the year. Magrino also posted a runner-up finish with a 2:05.05 in the 200-yard backstroke. Schlyter was third in the 200-yard freestyle. Her time of 1:53.43 is Idaho's best and good for No. 4 in the WAC this season.
NORTHERN ARIZONA
The Northern Arizona swimming & diving team used their overall depth to snap a three-meet losing streak to New Mexico and in the process open the season with a victory in their home pool, 167.5-132.5, on Saturday. Freshman Niamh McDonagh was the lone Lumberjack to win multiple individual events and NAU won posted victories in both diving events to start the dual season on a high note. Although NAU and New Mexico split the 16-event meet right down the middle with both teams winning eight events, the ‘Jacks managed to offset the Lobos' victories by stacking the top five scoring spots. Not including the final relay, NAU snagged three of the top five spots in the seven New Mexico individual event wins - including a set of two-three-four finishes. After strong performances in NAU's Pentathlon and Blue vs. Gold meets, McDonagh carried over her success into her first collegiate dual meet recording wins in the 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley. She also placed second in the 100 breast and swam the breaststroke leg of the Lumberjacks' winning 200 medley relay team to open the meet. On the springboards, juniors Tatiana Kurach and Christina Torrente posted victories. Kurach led a Lumberjack one-two-three sweep on 1-meter with a winning, and career-best, score of 309.00 with Torrente and junior Raquel Gonzales following. Torrente then proceeded to take first on 3-meter with her own career-best score of 325.50. The three juniors all posted NCAA Zone qualifying scores on 1-meter, while Torrente also recorded a qualifying score on 3-meter. NAU opened the meet with a narrow victory in the 200 medley relay with freshman Sarah O'Connor, McDonagh, senior Alina Staffeldt and senior Roni Houck edging out New Mexico's ‘A' team by .22 seconds. The Lumberjacks' top relay got the team off on the right start with a winning time of 1:45.67. New Mexico's Adriana Palomino won the 1,000 freestyle, but redshirt junior Monique King, freshman Sam Milewski and sophomore Erin Spielman countered by finishing in successive order after her. Palomino bounced right back to win the 200 free, which helped the Lobos close their deficit to 29-26, but the Lumberjacks bounced right back led by O'Connor in the 100 backstroke. O'Connor's winning time of 56.72 was followed by freshman Lauren Hazel and sophomore Fernanda Montiel in third and fourth respectively. NAU led 43-31 through four events, and after New Mexico claimed the 100 breast, the ‘Jacks went one-two-four in the 200 butterfly. Staffeldt won the first of two butterfly events with a time of 2:04.06, just beating junior Andrea Schmidt to the wall. Freshman Maddie Seidl placed fourth in her first dual race, before Houck placed second in the 50 free heading into the first break. Kurach, Torrente and Gonzales' sweep of the top three spots pushed the Lumberjacks' advantage out to 87-63 - a lead that proved to be insurmountable. Houck touched the wall in 52.12 to win the 100 free out of the break and NAU's backstroke trio of O'Connor, Montiel and Hazel went two-three-four in the 200 back. McDonagh's first of two event wins came in a time of 2:23.99 in the 200 breast with junior Sarah Takach and senior Audrey Mann placing third and fourth respectively. King, Milewski and senior Kimmy Richter once again offset Palomino's 500 free victory by taking the next three spots. Staffeldt and Schmidt then finished second and third respectively in the 100 fly going into the final break, where Torrente wrapped up her 3-meter victory. McDonagh won the day's final individual event - the 200 IM - by more than a second with a time of 2:07.19. NAU concluded the meet with a second-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay and never led by fewer than 30 points in the last half of the meet.
WYOMING
The Cowboys swimming and diving program claimed victory over Air Force on Saturday afternoon at Laramie High School. They reclaimed the Antler Helmet with a 165-135 win. The Cowboys broke Air Force's three-year winning streak in the head-to-head series with their first dual victory over the Falcons since Nov. 2, 2013. The Wyoming men are now 1-1 on the year in dual meets. The men dominated with nine individual race wins. Senior Eric Oleson took victory in the distance events with a winning time of 9:45.52 in the 1000 freestyle and 4:41.58 in the 500 freestyle. Senior Wade Nelson won all three of his individual events in the 100 backstroke (50.49), 200 backstroke (1:50.91) and the 200 individual medley (1:53.00). Junior Jack Herron won three events in the dual as well, touching the wall first in the 200 freestyle (1:40.56), 200 butterfly (1:54.47) and the 100 freestyle (45:50). Junior Liam Holt dominated in the breaststroke events, winning the 100 and 200 with times of 56.83 and 2:04.49, respectively.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2018 WAC Swimming and Diving Championship returns to Houston, Texas. Last year Air Force won its second straight WAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championship while Northern Arizona took home the women's crown for the fourth straight year.