MINNEAPOLIS – The San Diego State swimming and diving team, a top-three finisher in each of the last nine Mountain West Championships, looks for its first conference title since 2015 this weekend at the Mountain West Championships at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The event begins on Wednesday with a conference champion set to be crowned on Saturday.
The event will be streamed on FloSwimming and live results will be available on GoAztecs.com.
The Aztecs finished a perfect 13-0 dual-meet season on Feb. 2 at Loyola Marymount, marking the team's fourth undefeated dual-meet season in the last six years. During dual meets in the regular season, the Aztecs topped back-to-back conference champion Boise State, Air Force, and Fresno State. The Aztecs also topped Fresno State, Air Force, and San Jose State last October in the Chick-fil-A Invitational. The Aztecs own a 71-2 dual-meet record since January 2013.
Including SDSU's two swimming invitational meets (the Chic-fil-A Invitational and Mizzou Invitational), only three teams during the entire regular season beat the Aztecs. Those teams include No. 4 California, No. 19 Missouri, and Arkansas, which is the top team receiving votes in the CSCAA national top 25.
Klara Thormalm, Alma Thormalm, and Courtney Vincent have led the Aztecs in the pool this year, each owning multiple top times in the conference. With three Aztec swimmers owning multiple top times, the rest of the conference combined has one swimmer with multiple fastest times. SDSU also owns the fastest 200 medley relay (Elli Ferrin, Klara Thormalm, Courtney Vincent, Alma Thormalm - 1:39.39) and 400 medley relay teams (Elli Ferrin, Kristina Murphy, Courtney Vincent, Alma Thormalm - 3:38.13) in the conference while having a second-place 200 free relay team (Alma Thormalm, Klara Thormalm, Cathy Cooper, Peyton Wilson - 1:30.82) that owns a seed time just .06 seconds behind Boise State.
Alma Thormalm leads the conference pack in both the 50 free (22.79) and 100 free (48.81). Thormalm's 48.81 in the 100 free set last November at the Mizzou Invitational is also the second-fastest in Aztec history.
Alma's younger sister, Klara, leads the conference in the 100 breast (1:00.43) and 200 breast (2:11.72). Both of those times mark as the second and third fastest in school history. Morganne McKennan also sits just behind Thormalm in the 100 breast, owning the second-fastest time in the conference at 1:00.91.
Vincent, one of two Mountain West swimmers to compete in the NCAA Championships last year, has led the conference once again in both the 100 fly (52.18) and 200 fly (1:59.59). Both of those times set career-bests for Vincent including breaking her own previous school record in the 100 fly. Vincent's 200 fly time is fourth-fastest in the Aztec record book.
Lizzie Menzmer also has shined in the 100 fly, owning a top time of 53.92 -- the second-fastest in the conference this season and the fourth fastest in school history.
McKenna Meyer's 400 IM time of 4:15.03 is also the fastest in the conference. Other top three times in the conference include Meyer's 2:00.58 in the 200 IM, which stands second in the conference and just ahead of teammate Kristina Murphy, who is third in the conference at 2:01.17. Murphy also owns the fifth-fastest 100 breast time at 1:01.94 and fourth-fastest 200 breast time at 2:12.57.
Klara Thormalm's 23:06 in the 50 free is fifth-best among swimmers, while Elli Ferrin is fourth in the league with a 54.03 in the 100 back.
On the diving board, the Aztecs have been led by two-time Mountain West Diver of the Week Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez. The freshman is SDSU's first freshman to win multiple Diver of the Week awards since Alexandra Caplan did so in 2014-15. Currently, Lechuga Gonzalez has the best platform (244.90), third-best 1-meter score (306.15), and fourth-best 3-meter score (317.33) in the conference this season. Lechuga Gonzalez is the only diver in the conference to be in the top five of all three events.
Lechuga Gonzalez's top scores all rank inside the program's top five. The freshman's platform score ranks fourth all-time in Aztec history, while both her 1-meter and 3-meter scores rank fifth.
Also shining for the Aztecs on the diving board is Delaney Gallagher, who won the conference's first Mountain West Diver of the Week award. Gallagher owns the second-best platform score (230.40) and top-10 scores in both 1-meter (293.55) and 3-meter action (307.35).
Collectively as a group, the SDSU divers won the Nothern Arizona Diving Invitational, beating both Idaho and Northern Arizona earlier this month.
Swim & Dive Ready for Mountain West Championships
