Feb. 21, 2013
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The San Diego State swimming and diving team turned in solid performances in each of Thursday's five events as it extended its first-place lead at the 2013 Mountain West Championships being conducted in San Antonio, Texas, this week. Along the way three school records were set and several Aztec top 10 times were established.
The Aztecs ended day two of the meet with 291.5 points. A tight battle for second place has Nevada with 186 points, UNLV with 178 and Wyoming with 173. Just behind that trio in fifth is defending champion Boise State (165.5) followed by New Mexico (157), Fresno State (148) Colorado State (1202) and Air Force (96).
San Diego State's top individual effort of the day came from junior Mikaela Macklin, who set a Mountain West and SDSU record in the prelims of the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:58.10. Macklin then came back for the evening finals of that event and won it in 1:57.73 to break the record she set earlier in the day.
SDSU opened Thursday's evening finals session just as it did the previous day, by winning the opening relay. This time it was the foursome of Leona Jennings, Katelyn Weddle, Gemma Johnson and Whitney Weisz that won the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:35.60. That mark established a new SDSU record by over three seconds and was just .01 second off the Mountain West all-time record as well.
The Aztecs then racked up the team points in the 500 freestyle as Kelly Marquenie (4:43.41), Melanie Garibaldi (4:44.90) and Jessica Crider went 2-3-4 in the final. Marquenie's time was a school record eclipsing her old mark by just over a second while Garibaldi's time ranks second-best in school history. In addition to that trio, Meghan Zimmer and Dana Michaels finished first and eighth respectively in the B final to garner more points for their team.
The 50 freestyle race saw a trio of Aztecs finish among the top seven with marks that rank second through fourth on the SDSU all-time list. Gemma Johnson captured fourth place in 22.96 while teammate Maddy Dalcamo was fifth in 22.97 and Chelsea Bailey took seventh in 23.14.
In the 3-meter diving competition, junior Anna Steiner qualified for the finals with a seventh-place finish in the prelims with a score of 273.63. She improved on that score (to 314.40) in the finals to capture fifth place in the event. A trio of divers finished just outside the top 16 in the prelims with Kelsey Bean 17th (236.91), Rafaella Suarez 19th (235.44) and Ashley Stott 20th (226.26). The divers will have an off-day on Friday with the platform competition schedule for Saturday's evening finals session.
Action resumes Friday (Feb. 22) 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. (CT) that evening.
Complete up-to-the minute coverage of the 2013 Mountain West Championships including live scoring can be found by clicking here>.
Day Two Team Standings1. San Diego State...291.52. Nevada............1863. UNLV..............1784. Wyoming...........1735. Boise State.......165.56. New Mexico........1577. Fresno State......1488. Colorado State....1029. Air Force.........96