Swimming Teams Finish Strong at Mountain West Championships
2/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
The Air Force men's and women's swimming teams placed third and seventh, respectively, in the Mountain West Conference Championships held in Oklahoma City, Okla., Feb. 15-17.
Air Force's Sarah Law was named the MWC Women's Diver of the Year while her coach, Stan Curnow, was named the Women's Diving Coach of the Year.
BYU captured the Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships for the second year in a row. The Cougar men scored 828.50 points to edge UNLV who finished with 817. Air Force was third with 585, Wyoming fourth with 530.50 and Utah fifth with 310.
On the women's side, BYU never relinquished their lead and ended the championship with 815 points. Colorado State was second with 536. UNLV hung on to the third place spot with 480.50. Wyoming made a late evening surge to surpass Utah for fourth at 425. Utah trailed five points behind Wyoming to take fifth at 420. San Diego State (357.50) was sixth, Air Force seventh (341) and New Mexico was eighth at 239.
In the men's 100-yard freestyle, UNLV's Piotr Krzyskow was the victor at 43.69. Air Force's Charlie Toth was second at 43.79 and BYU's Jeffrey Mason third at 44.61.
Air Force dominated the 200-yard breaststroke taking the first and third-place spots. Falcon Matt Ihlenfeld took the gold at 1:58.67, BYU's Nicholas Tobler was second at 2:00.75 and Falcon John Dayton third at 2:02.60.
UNLV reclaimed the lead for a short time by taking the top two spots in the 200-yard butterfly. Rebel Andrew Livingston was first at 1:46.05 and Doug Wake was second at 1:47.93. Wyoming's Jacob Weidert was third finishing at 1:49.71.
The men's 400-yard freestyle relay ended the evening. UNLV emerged victorious, touching the wall at 2:56.96. BYU was close behind for second-place at 2:58.78 and Air Force took third at 2:59.51.
On the women's side, Air Force's Sarah Law captured the platform diving title with a score of 348.05. BYU took the next three awards with Cougar Anna Tutunnikova finishing second at 314.45 and Tessa Clark in third with 308.40. The Rebels of UNLV finished the women's side with gold in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:25.19. Colorado State was a close second, clocking in at 3:25.36. Utah beat out BYU for the bronze, finishing at 3:25.61.
The Mountain West Conference recognized the following individuals for the designated honors below.
2001 Women's Swimmer of the Year: Lorena Diaconescu, UNLV (repeat winner)
2001 Men's Swimmer of the Year: Jacint Simon, UNLV (repeat winner)
2001 Women's Diver of the Year: Sarah Law, Air Force
2001 Men's Diver of the Year: Justin Wilcock, BYU
2001 Women's Freshman of the Year: Alyson Noble, UNLV
2001 Men's Freshman of the Year: Nicholas Tobler, BYU
2001 Women's Diving Coach of the Year: Stan Curnow, Air Force
2001 Men's Diving Coach of the Year: Jason Bauman, Wyoming
2001 Women's Coach of the Year: Stan Crump, BYU
2001 Men's Coach of the Year: Jim Reitz, UNLV (repeat winner)
2001 Mt. West Conference Championships - 2/14/01 to 2/17/01
Mt. West Championship
Team Rankings - Through Event 42
Female Team Scores
Place School Points
1 Byu BYU 815
2 Csu CSU 536
3 Unlv UNLV 480 . 50
4 Wyo WYO 425
5 Utah UTAH 420
6 San Diego State SDSU 357 . 50
7 Afa AFA 341
8 Unm UNM 239
Male Team Scores
Place School Points
1 Byu BYU 828 . 50
2 Unlv UNLV 817
3 Afa AFA 585
4 Wyo WYO 530 . 50
5 Utah UTAH 310
For complete results, go to the Mountain West Conference web site at
www.mountainwestconf.com and choose swimming.
