Northern Arizona Women, UNLV Men Remain in Lead After Day Two
Pharr, Texas – Day two of the 2023 WAC swimming and diving championships started with Grand Canyon’s women relay team winning the 200-yard freestyle. UNLV’s men 200-yard free relay team broke the WAC record and met the NCAA DI A standard with a time of 1:16.62. That team consisted of Bryson Huey, George Ratiu, Steven Butler and Reece Hemmens.
After two days of action, Northern Arizona leads in the women’s team rankings with 367 points, followed by Grand Canyon with 242 and NM State with 191 through event 306. On the men’s side, UNLV is ahead in the team rankings with 346 points with CBU (247), Grand Canyon (211) and Air Force (203) all totaling over 200 points after two days of action.
In the women’s one meter diving, Northern Arizona’s Victoria Knapp placed first with a total of 294.40 points. California Baptist’s Natalia Bedolla took second and NAU’s Maegan Jensen placed third. NAU had eight athletes to finish in the top 12 scoring a total of 104 points in the single event.
Casey Craffey of NAU touched the wall first in the women's 500 free with a time of 4:46.38 meeting the NCAA DI B standard and capturing the WAC title. Naomi Slee of NM State placed second with a time of 4:47.72 and Maddy Rey of NAU placed third with a time of 4:48.61.
In the men's 500 free, Wen Zhang from Air Force earned the gold medal with a time of 4:15.96 setting a new WAC record. Mark Kovacsics of CBU came in second place with a time of 4:19.55, and UNLV’s Cameron Castro finished third with a time of 4:21.92. All three athletes met the NCAA DI B standard with their performances.
Maria Brunlehner won the title in the women's 200 IM with a NCAA DI B standard time of 1:59.19. Haley Mayhew of Tennessee was second with a time of 2:00.04, while Lindsay Puhalski finished third with a time of 2:00.62.
UNLV took two podium spots in the men's 200 IM, with Kris Matuszewski posting the winning time of 1:46.14 and Dominik Bujak finishing third with a time of 1:46.70. Griffin McKean of GCU placed second with a time of 1:46.39.
Emily Muteti won the women's 50 free with a time of 22.63 making the NCAA DI B standard. Finishing in second place with a time of 22.80 was Aimee Burton of NM State. Third place went to Alison Jackson, with a time of 23.10.
CBU’s Remi Fabiani won the men's 50 free, posting the winning time of 19:10 and was one, one hundredth of a second off from breaking the meet record. Bryson Huey of UNLV finished second with a time of 19.37 followed by his teammate, Reece Hemmens placing third with a time of 19.54. Five of the top eight finishers all met the NCAA DI B standard.
Closing out the night, Gael Jiminez-Mestes of CBU earned the title in the men's 3-meter with a final score of 394.75 setting a new WAC record. Dima Tereschenko of UNLV finished second with a score of 358.15. Alex Kenyon took third place with a score of 338.10.
Day three of the 2023 WAC Swimming & Diving Championships begins on Friday, February 24 at 10:30 a.m. CT with the prelims of the women’s and men’s 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Free, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke.