Men And Women Share Second Place Finish At The MWCC

OKLAHOMA CITY -- As their last year competing in the Mountain West Conference Championships, the BYU men and women’s swim and dive team finished in second place behind UNLV’s men’s team and SDSU’s women’s team.

The UNLV men won with 770.50 team points, ahead of BYU’s 672 points, followed Wyoming at 594.50, TCU with497.50, Utah at 471 and Air Force at 413.5.

San Diego State achieved the program's first-ever MWC women's championship title with 646 points, followed by BYU with 562 points, Wyoming with 524, UNLV at 448, Utah with 443, TCU at 381, Colorado State with 322, New Mexico at 247 and Air Force with 141 points.

Highlights of the MWCC include Brandon Watson winning Men’s Diver of the Year and Keith Russell being named Men’s Diving Coach of the Year. Rachel Grant and San Diego’s Kelly Marquenie shared the title of Women’s Swimmer of the Year.

After the preliminary rounds, John Kendrick competed in the men’s 1650-yard freestyle and finished in second at 15:22.46, earning another NCAA ‘B’ cut.

Candice Smith grabbed third place in the women’s 200 backstroke with her time of 1:56.70.

Freshman Jake Taylor received his third MWC title of the meet, breaking the league’s all-time record in the men’s 200 back with his time of 1:43.85 and earning another NCAA ‘B’ cut. Earlier, Taylor set the league’s fastest time in the prelim heats with his time of 1:44.33.

In the women’s 100 free, senior Sara Jayne Baldwin received a second place finish and an NCAA ‘B’ cut with her time of 49.87.

Vytenis Slenys took the third place finish in the men’s 200 breaststroke with his time of 1:57.52.

Rachel Grant received her second straight MWC gold medal in the 200 butterfly with her NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 1:57.19. This race marked her fourth gold medal earned this weekend.

Both the men and women’s 400 free relay teams grabbed the bronze in their respective races with the men’s time of 2:58.10 and the women’s of 3:20.04.

On the platform, BYU divers took third, fourth and fifth with Brandon Watson leading with a score of 297.05 followed by Sam Hatch and Travis Day with their scores of 287.45 and 282.90, respectively.

For results of the MWCC's, click HERE.

The BYU divers will travel to Minneapolis for the Zone E diving competition on March 10-12, while the women’s NCAA’s will be held in Austin, Texas, on March 17-19 and the men’s NCAA’s will be held on March 24-26 in Minneapolis.