Another season has come and gone for the Wyoming men and women’s swimming and diving teams, which are finishing up the spring season next week at the NCAA Championships that go until the end of this month.
Last week the women’s swimming and diving placed 11 individuals and three relay squads on the All-Mountain West swimming and diving team, as announced by the conference. The Cowgirls’ 11 individual honorees and three relay awards were both the third-most of conference teams, according to MW statistics. The 11 honorees also are the second-most in school history. The conference awards were all given to the top eight of individual events and the top three of relay events.
“It was close the entire meet,” associate head coach Matt Leach said. “We swam well the entire week and coming into those final few events, we were counting points and anticipating what order our swimmers needed to finish in to have the success that we did.”
Of the 11 Cowgirls who received the honor, six earned multiple awards. According to the final reports at the event, senior Jessy Badaracco, junior Morgan Hartigan, sophomore Claudia Carlson and freshman Molly Coonce led the way with three awards each. Badaracco earned honors in the 200-yard butterfly, 200 individual medley and 400 IM. This marked her second consecutive year earning All-MW in the 200 butterfly and 400 IM and the first in the 200 IM.
Hartigan earned her second consecutive honor in the 100 breaststroke and earned her first honors in the 50 and 100 freestyle. She earned the honor in the 100 freestyle by winning the MW Championship. Carlson was honored for the second-straight season in the 100 and 200 butterfly, while earning her first selection in the 200 IM. Coonce earned her first all-conference selection in the 100 and 200 breaststroke as well as the 100 butterfly.
“I felt like we had a great meet,” UW Head Coach Tom Johnson said. “I think one thing that was a huge theme throughout the week when our athletes were getting tired was just to finish.”
The men’s team saw a second-place finish at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, which included 12 individuals earning First or Second-Team All-MPSF accolades, as announced Tuesday by the conference office. The 12 selections tie the most all-conference honorees since 2000 and exceeds the 11 on the 2011-12 squad based on previous school records. To receive First Team All-MPSF honors, an individual must finish in the top three and a relay must finish first at the conference event. Earning second-team honors requires a top eight individual finish and top three-relay finish at the conference meet.
Earning first team honors according to reports from the event were sophomore Adam Kalms, junior Ethan Griffel, junior diver Derek Campbell and freshman Ryan Nelson. Kalms led the way, garnering three honors by winning three conference championships in the 200-yard individual medley, 200-freestyle and 100-freestyle. It was his second consecutive first team honor in the 200-freestyle and his second consecutive all-conference selection in the 200 IM and 100-freestyle after earning second team one season ago. Griffel earned his second straight awards in the 500 and 200 freestyle. Campbell earned his first all-conference honor on the 3-meter springboard and earned first team on the 1-meter after garnering second team on that board last season. Nelson earned the first MPSF honors of his career in the 400 IM and 1650 freestyle.
“I’m proud of my team, but I wish we could have found a way to win the meet,” Johnson said. “We’ve made huge strides as a program, which includes breaking historical records and I know these athletes will continue to push themselves to go even farther in the future.”
