Feb. 23, 2012
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - San Diego State moved into first place at the end of the second day of the 2012 Mountain West Swimming & Diving Championships being contested in Oklahoma City this week. The Aztecs (299 points) find themselves with a slim four-point advantage over Boise State (295 points) after the completion of eight of the 21 events scheduled for the four-day competition.
UNLV sits in third place with 210 points followed by New Mexico (185), Wyoming (176), Colorado State (121), TCU (118) and Air Force (79).
Boise State entered the day with a seven-point lead over SDSU and increased that margin to 17 by winning the 400 medley relay to open the day's events. The Aztec were fourth in that race, but the foursome of Leona Jennings, Katelyn Weddle, Gemma Johnson and Stephanie Koch went 3:39.24 to record the second-fastest time in school history.
San Diego State surged into the lead, however, with six swimmers scoring points in the 500 freestyle final. Melanie Garibaldi (4:57.56) finished second in the `A' final with Kelly Marquenie (4:47.74). amanda Barrett (4:52.55) and Jessica Crider (4:56.91) taking third, sixth and eight. Fellow Aztecs Dana Michaels (4:52.47) and Meghan Zimmer (4:53.05) added to SDSU's point total by finishing in the top two spots in the `B' final.
The Aztecs maintained their lead with Jennings (2:002.30 and Mikaela Macklin (2:00.62) placing second and third in the 200 individual medley, but Boise regained the lead by taking the top two places in the 50 freestyle. Chelsea Bailey (23.35) and Stephanie Koch (23.60) captured first and fourth place respectively in the `B' final to score points for SDSU.
Trailing by 15 entering the final event of the day, San Diego State had three divers finish among the top 8 on the 3-meter board to resume the team lead at the end of the evening. Kristen Meier's score of 322.10 was good enough for second place with teammates Anna Steiner (279.35) taking fifth and Rafaella Suarez (254.20) placing eighth. In addition, senior Aina Eill added important points by taking 1th place with a mark of 278.95.
Action resumes Friday (Feb. 23) morning at 11:00 a.m. (CT) with prelims in the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke and 100 backstroke. The finals of those five events along with the 200 free relay will commence at 6:00 p.m. that evening.
Complete up-to-the minute coverage of the 2012 Mountain West Championships including live scoring can be found by clicking here.
Team Standings (after 8 events)1. San Diego State..2992. Boise State......2953. UNLV.............2104. New Mexico.......1855. Wyoming..........1766. Colorado State...1217. TCU..............1188. Air Force.........79