SAN DIEGO— The back-to-back Mountain West Champion San Diego State swimming and diving team look to become just the second program in conference history to win the MW title in three consecutive years at the 2021 Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships, Feb. 17-20.
For the first time in conference history, the championship swimming and diving events will take place in different states. The MW Swimming Championships are hosted by UNLV in Las Vegas, Nev. while the Diving Championships are hosted by Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. The event in Las Vegas runs from Feb. 17-20 while the Colorado-based diving portion will be held Feb. 18-20.
Continuing their success of the last eight seasons, SDSU once again completed a perfect dual-meet season, hoisting a 4-0 record throughout their 2020-21 campaign. The Aztecs earned wins over the University of San Diego, Pepperdine (twice), and Cal Poly in the regular season, bettering their dual-meet record to 83-2 since January of 2013 and furthering a program dual-meet win streak to 26 consecutive victories dating back to 2018.
Swimmers donning the Scarlet and Black hold top-five conference marks in all but two events throughout the 2021 season. The Aztecs' sprint freestyle cohort is led by senior Klara Thormalm and juniors Lizzie Menzmer and Mia Ryan. Thormalm recorded the second-fastest 50 free time in the conference at the Fresno State Invite (22.93) and Menzmer sits sixth in the conference rankings with her efforts at the same event (23.55). Ryan holds SDSU's best marks in the 100 and 200 free at 51.12 and 1:50.53, respectively, both of which are fifth-best in the MW. Sophomore Paige Mitchell leads all conference swimmers this season in 500 free with a time of 4:50.96.
SDSU's backstroke efforts are guided by sophomore Riley Tapley, as the Superior, Colo. native holds the fourth-best conference mark in the 50 back (26.14), third-best MW effort in the 100 back (54.89), and fourth-best performance in the 200 back (1:59.39) with her 2021 regular-season swims.
The 2020 MW Swimmer of the Year and Conference Championship Swimmer of the Meet senior Klara Thormalm once again is at the helm of the Scarlet and Black's breaststroke group in 2021. Her 50 breast swim of 30.09 is the second-fastest seen in the conference this season while her 100 breast mark of 1:00.04 and 20 breast swim of 2:12.01 leads all MW competitors. Also aiding in the Aztecs' breaststroke dominance is junior Sammy Geyer who holds the third-best MW swims in the 50 and 100 breast with times of 30.10 and 1:02.65, respectively. Junior Kristina Murphy is another Aztec dominating in the breaststroke, swimming the second-best 200 breast time in the conference with a time of 2:13.54. Senior Larisa Tam will look to wrap up her time in the Scarlet and Black on a high note as the Foster City, Calif. native sits with the fourth-best 50 (30.24) and 100 breast (1:02.89) times in the conference throughout 2021.
Tapley also looks to head SDSU's backstroke group in the conference championship, currently sitting with the sixth-best 50 fly time (26.69) and the fourth-best 100 fly mark (55.43) in the league. Senior Elli Ferrin continued her career's dominance in the events this season, earning the Mountain West's fourth-best 50 fly effort (26.48), while Gebhardt led all Aztecs in the 200 fly this season with a time of 2:03.74.
Murphy is the Aztec to watch in the individual medleys as she holds the conference's third-best 200 IM time (2:04.05) and the MW's second-best 400 IM mark (4:22.38). Tapley also holds a top-five individual medley mark in the 200 IM with the league's fifth-best performance (2:04.65) in 2021.
Just one year after sweeping all five relay events at the 2020 MW Championships, the Scarlet and Black sit with the MW's second-best 200 free relay (1:33.13), 400 free relay (3:26.16), and 400 medley relay (3:45.01) performances in 2021.
On the springboard, junior and 2020 MW Diver of the Year Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez holds the Aztecs' best marks on all three springboard events. All six of SDSU's divers will compete in Colorado Springs, Colo., looking to add points towards the program's championship chase total.
Swimming events begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17 with the 200 medley and 800 free relays. Diving kicks off one day later with the 1-meter springboard preliminary heat at noon. Swimming events begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17 with the 200 medley and 800 free relays. Diving kicks off one day later with the 1-meter springboard preliminary heat at noon. The live stream of the swimming events can be seen here while the diving events can be watched here. Live results for the swim portion of the meet are available here (coming soon) and diving live scoring can be found here.
For the first time in conference history, the championship swimming and diving events will take place in different states. The MW Swimming Championships are hosted by UNLV in Las Vegas, Nev. while the Diving Championships are hosted by Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. The event in Las Vegas runs from Feb. 17-20 while the Colorado-based diving portion will be held Feb. 18-20.
Continuing their success of the last eight seasons, SDSU once again completed a perfect dual-meet season, hoisting a 4-0 record throughout their 2020-21 campaign. The Aztecs earned wins over the University of San Diego, Pepperdine (twice), and Cal Poly in the regular season, bettering their dual-meet record to 83-2 since January of 2013 and furthering a program dual-meet win streak to 26 consecutive victories dating back to 2018.
Swimmers donning the Scarlet and Black hold top-five conference marks in all but two events throughout the 2021 season. The Aztecs' sprint freestyle cohort is led by senior Klara Thormalm and juniors Lizzie Menzmer and Mia Ryan. Thormalm recorded the second-fastest 50 free time in the conference at the Fresno State Invite (22.93) and Menzmer sits sixth in the conference rankings with her efforts at the same event (23.55). Ryan holds SDSU's best marks in the 100 and 200 free at 51.12 and 1:50.53, respectively, both of which are fifth-best in the MW. Sophomore Paige Mitchell leads all conference swimmers this season in 500 free with a time of 4:50.96.
SDSU's backstroke efforts are guided by sophomore Riley Tapley, as the Superior, Colo. native holds the fourth-best conference mark in the 50 back (26.14), third-best MW effort in the 100 back (54.89), and fourth-best performance in the 200 back (1:59.39) with her 2021 regular-season swims.
The 2020 MW Swimmer of the Year and Conference Championship Swimmer of the Meet senior Klara Thormalm once again is at the helm of the Scarlet and Black's breaststroke group in 2021. Her 50 breast swim of 30.09 is the second-fastest seen in the conference this season while her 100 breast mark of 1:00.04 and 20 breast swim of 2:12.01 leads all MW competitors. Also aiding in the Aztecs' breaststroke dominance is junior Sammy Geyer who holds the third-best MW swims in the 50 and 100 breast with times of 30.10 and 1:02.65, respectively. Junior Kristina Murphy is another Aztec dominating in the breaststroke, swimming the second-best 200 breast time in the conference with a time of 2:13.54. Senior Larisa Tam will look to wrap up her time in the Scarlet and Black on a high note as the Foster City, Calif. native sits with the fourth-best 50 (30.24) and 100 breast (1:02.89) times in the conference throughout 2021.
Tapley also looks to head SDSU's backstroke group in the conference championship, currently sitting with the sixth-best 50 fly time (26.69) and the fourth-best 100 fly mark (55.43) in the league. Senior Elli Ferrin continued her career's dominance in the events this season, earning the Mountain West's fourth-best 50 fly effort (26.48), while Gebhardt led all Aztecs in the 200 fly this season with a time of 2:03.74.
Murphy is the Aztec to watch in the individual medleys as she holds the conference's third-best 200 IM time (2:04.05) and the MW's second-best 400 IM mark (4:22.38). Tapley also holds a top-five individual medley mark in the 200 IM with the league's fifth-best performance (2:04.65) in 2021.
Just one year after sweeping all five relay events at the 2020 MW Championships, the Scarlet and Black sit with the MW's second-best 200 free relay (1:33.13), 400 free relay (3:26.16), and 400 medley relay (3:45.01) performances in 2021.
On the springboard, junior and 2020 MW Diver of the Year Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez holds the Aztecs' best marks on all three springboard events. All six of SDSU's divers will compete in Colorado Springs, Colo., looking to add points towards the program's championship chase total.
Swimming events begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17 with the 200 medley and 800 free relays. Diving kicks off one day later with the 1-meter springboard preliminary heat at noon. Swimming events begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17 with the 200 medley and 800 free relays. Diving kicks off one day later with the 1-meter springboard preliminary heat at noon. The live stream of the swimming events can be seen here while the diving events can be watched here. Live results for the swim portion of the meet are available here (coming soon) and diving live scoring can be found here.