2018 Mountain West Championships: Nevada Opens With A Pair Of Wins
2018 Mountain West Championships: Nevada Opens With A Pair Of Wins
Nevada and San Diego State make their mark on the opening night of the Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships.
By Ben Colin
The Nevada women's swimming and diving team captured wins in two of the three events competed on the opening night of the Mountain West Championships on Wednesday in San Antonio.
The Wold Pack's strong start to the four-day conference meet included victories in the 800-yard freestyle relay and the 1-meter diving event.
Heading into day two, Nevada is tied for the meet lead at 189 points with San Diego State. Wyoming is in third with 161 points, and defending champion Boise State, which also won an event, is in fourth with 135.
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The Broncos picked up the first victory of the meet in the 200 medley relay, winning in a time of 1:38.23. San Diego State came in second and San Jose State took third. All three teams finished under 1:39.
When the anchor legs dove in, four teams were within 0.6 of a second of each other. Boise State had the lead with Abbey Sorenson closing out the relay. She held on to lock up the event win with a 21.99 split. The fastest freestyle time came from San Diego State’s Klara Thormalm.
The difference between the Broncos and Aztecs came in the backstroke. Boise State’s Ally Kleinsorgen led off with a 24.52, a mark that was over a second faster than San Diego State. The Aztecs closed with a fast middle from Caitlin Delany and Summer Harrison.
On the boards, Nevada’s Sharae Zheng won her third straight 1-meter title. Her score of 352.41 was good enough to win by just under 40 points over Wyoming’s Karla Contreras.
Zheng missed the conference record by 12 points.
In the 800 freestyle relay, a 1:45.81 swim from Nevada's Andressa Cholodovskis Lima pushed the Wolfpack to their second win in a time of 7:08.17, which was three seconds faster than the field and easily the fastest swim from any team in the conference this year.
UNLV’s Kyndal Phillips swam the night’s fastest split. Although her team finished sixth, she anchored in a 1:44.34. She passed three teams to finish the race.
Friday's racing starts with prelims at 11 AM CT featuring the 500 Freestyle, 200 IM, and 50 Freestyle. The 200 Free Relay and three-meter diving will be added to the evening schedule.
Team Scores
San Diego State - 189, Nevada - 189, Wyoming - 161, Boise State - 135, New Mexico - 128, San Jose State - 119, UNLV - 115, Fresno State - 106, Air Force - 98, Colorado State - 98
2018 Mountain West Swimming & Diving Championships
February 14-17
Palo Alto College Aquatic Center
Short Course Yards (SCY)