COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – San Diego State senior swimmer Klara Thormalm has been named the Mountain West Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive season, the Mountain West Conference offices announced Tuesday. The Vetlanda, Sweden native's senior season was highlighted by an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships in the 100 breast, swimming to a conference-best and program-best time of 58.68.
"Attitude and effort is something we talk about as the cornerstones of our program," noted head coach Mike Shrader. "Klara has an outstanding attitude and work ethic and is very deserving of the award."
Thormalm was impressive throughout the entire 2020-21 season, winning all-conference honors in three individual events (50 free, 100 breast, 200 breast) and four relay events (200 medley, 400 medley, 200 free, and 400 free). Her 100 breast swim of 1:00.19 at the conference championships and her leg of the 200 medley relay that swam to a total time of 1:38.31 earned her two conference titles and the honor of Mountain West Championship Swimmer of the Meet for the second consecutive year.
Qualifying to swim in the 50 free, 100 breast and 200 breast at the 2021 NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C., the Scarlet and Black's premier sprint freestyle and breaststroke specialist shined on the national stage. Her 50 free swim of 22.38 earned her tied-for-26th in the preliminary heats and bested her previously-held fifth-best swim in program history in the event by .03 seconds. Her 11th-place finish in the 100 breast topped her prelims heat seed by five spots and her swim of 58.68 in the finals was .48 seconds faster than her qualifying mark. She continued her success in the water on the final day of NCAA competition, earning the top finish in her preliminaries heat in the 200 breast with a time of 2:08.85, her season's best effort and good for 19th in the nation.
SDSU finished the 2020-21 season posting its 12th consecutive top-three finish at the Mountain West Championships. The program went a perfect 4-0 in dual meets to give the Aztecs their sixth perfect dual meet season in the last eight years. The end-of-year honor for Thormalm marks the third consecutive year the Aztecs have earned at least one postseason honor from the MW.
2021 Mountain West End-of-Year Honors
Klara Thormalm, San Diego State- Swimmer of the Year
Melissa Mirafuentes, Wyoming- Diver of the Year
Ben Loorz, UNLV- Swimming Coach of the Year
Ted Everett, Wyoming- Diving Coach of the Year