Nick Kissel
nkissel@uwyo.edu
The University of Wyoming swimming and diving teams had a solid afternoon in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The Cowgirls downed UNLV, 222-78, before falling to Nevada, 161-139 in a double dual, as the Pokes came out on top against the Rebels by a score of 174-119. In the last regular-season swimming events, UW claimed 17 victories.
“We had an unbelievable meet this afternoon,” UW head coach Tom Johnson said.
Wyoming was able to get off to a great start as it won both the men’s and women’s 200 medley relays. Junior Emily Stevens, sophomore Maria Harutjunjan, senior Molly Coonce and Senior, Emily Ridout brought home the first victory of the day for UW with a time of 1:42.30. The Pokes won with a mark of 1:30.46, senior Austin Layman, junior Gabe Rooker, senior George Eglesfield and senior Bryce Carter.
“We had many personal bests today, which was great to see, unfortunately on both sides we had a few events get away from us but overall I thought we showed improvement from the Arizona State meet and I liked how they raced today. I hope we continue to work tremendously hard during practice while we prepare for the conference championships,” head coach Tom Johnson said.
Harutjunjan continued to tear through competition in the breaststroke events on the woman’s side. She won both the 100 and 200 events with times of 1:03.07 and 2:16.13. On the men’s side Rooker also continued to impress in the breast events. He swept each event against the Rebels, with a final of 54.49 in the 100-breast and a 1:59.53 in the 200 for UW.
Sophomore Austin Rettinghouse paced Wyoming in the diving events. He took second in each the 1 and 3-meter diving events with scores of 318.85 and 320.85, respectively.
Sullivan’s time in the 100 back (55.50) was the seventh-best in Cowgirl history, while Harutjunjan had the ninth-fastest time in the 100-breast (1:03.07) and the eighth-best mark in the 200 (2:16.13). Ridout marked the seventh-best finish in Cowgirl history in the 50 free (22.87), and the eighth fastest in the 100 (50.61). Sullivan claimed another top ten time in the 200 back, while Coonce added another top mark with the fifth-best finish in the 100 fly (54.83).
The divers will return to action this coming Friday to take part in the Air Force Diving Invite in Colorado Springs. The Cowgirl swimmers are off until the Mountain West Championships, which are scheduled for Feb. 17-20. The Pokes will compete next in the Western Athletic Conference Championships on Feb. 24-27.
