UNLV Men, Northern Arizona Women Lead Scoreboards After WAC Day 2 Finals

2022 WAC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 23-26, 2022
• CRWC Natatorium, Houston, TX
• Defending Champions: UNLV men (1x) and Northern Arizona women (8x) (results)
• Championship Central
• Day 2 Psych Sheets
• Live Results (Swimming / Diving)
• Fan Guide

Team Scores Through Day 2

Men

1. UNLV – 300
2. Wyoming – 253
3. Air Force – 248
4. Cal Baptist – 219
5. Grand Canyon – 209
6. Seattle U – 56

Women

1. Northern Arizona – 316
2. Grand Canyon – 285
3. Cal Baptist – 187
4. New Mexico St – 177
5. Northern Colorado – 159
6. Idaho – 152
7. Dixie State – 82
8. Seattle U – 81

Grand Canyon started off day 2 strong by sweeping both the men and women’s 200 free relays. The Lopes’ quartet of Jack Armstrong (19.60), Omar Elsayd (19.82), Samuel McKenzie (19.54), and Florent Janin (19.38) touched the wall first with a time of 1:18.34. UNLV came in 2nd with a time of 1:18.49. Notably, the Rebels’ Reece Hemmens had the fastest anchor split of 19.29.

In the women’s 200 free relay, GCU’s Emily Muteti (22.83), Maria Brunlehner (22.15), Kaitlyn Carr (22.80), and Claire Banic (22.27) barreled into the wall first with a time of 1:30.05. Northern Colorado came in 2nd just .27 later after Madelyn Moore anchored them home in a blistering 21.51, the  only sub-22 split in the field.

Moore went on to win the individual 50 free by .37 with a time of 22.17.

After breaking a WAC Conference record last night during the men’s 800 free relay, Air Force’s Wen Zhang did it again in the 500 free. He touched the wall first with a time of 4:16.15, besting the WAC Conference record set by CSUB’s Mitchell Huxhold in 2014  by .56.

UNLV’s Christopher Mykkanen pushed Zhang the entire race, flipping .11 ahead of him with 100 yards to go. But what separated Zhang was his 24.25 split on the final 50 yards. Mykannen touched the wall second with a school-record time of 4:17.42, 5 seconds ahead of his teammate Cameron Castro who took 3rd.

In the women’s 500 free, NAU’s Maddy Rey was neck-and-neck with her freshman teammate Casey Craffey who had a narrow lead for the first 400 yards. Rey blasted a 57.49 on the final 100 to ultimately out touch Craffey by .51 for 1st place with a time of 4:49.17.

UNLV men had victory in the 200 IM when Panos Bolanos touched the wall first with a time of 1:46.28. He out-touched second-place finisher Adam Grimm from Air Force by .08 and Bolanos’ teammate Domini Bujak took 3rd (1:46.93).

In the women’s 200 IM, GCU’s Brunlehner dominated the final as the only swimmer under the 2:00 mark. She finished with a time of 1:59.17 and a 2 second lead over the field.

The finals session ended with sprints; CBU’s Remi Fabiani dropped a 19.23 to win the men’s 50 free with a .28 lead ahead of second-place finisher George Ratiu of UNLV.

Diving

On the diving boards, Cal Baptist’s Evan Honer defended his 2021 WAC Championship title on 1-meter by scoring 331.85 points. The battle for 2nd place was nail-bitingly close; Wyoming’s Juan Gonzalez earned 327.95 to narrowly beat 3rd place finisher Alex Kenyon from Air Force by three-fourths of a point.

Cal Baptist’s Paula De Moya Alvarez won women’s 3-meter substantially with 323.10 points. Northern Arizona’s Victoria Knapp claimed 2nd place with 296.5 points while GCU’s Lizzy McKnight took 3rd (282.35 points.)