BYU Men Hold on to Lead After Day Two

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The BYU men's swimming and diving team took a commanding lead at the MWC Conference Championships in search of their third straight title in Oklahoma City, OK., Thursday. The women's team moved up to second place in the second day of action.

The men scored a total of 430.5 points and lead second place UNLV by 125.5 points going into the third day of competition. The women's swimming and diving team moved up from third place to second place and now have 202 points, just 17 points behind UNLV and just two points ahead of Colorado State, the team that led after day one.

Junior Heidi Leitz qualified for the finals of the 50-yard freestyle for the third consecutive year, tying her best time from a second=place finished last year in today's performance at 23.17. Leitz swam to a first-place time of 23.37 in the finals and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Olympian Gary Tan poisted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:49.95 to win the finals of the 200-yard individual medley.

The BYU men's diving team, one night after place the five out of the top six in the 1-meter event, placed six out of the top eight in the 3-meter event, including the top five spots. All-American Justin Wilcock racked up 607.90 points in the 3-meter event, shattering the MWC record (580) set by teammate Aaron Russell, a two-time All-American, last year. In the last two years, Wilcock has won the 1-meter, platform and 3-meter diving events, setting record in two of the three categories (3-meter, platform).

Day three events begin Friday, March 1 with preliminary events at 11 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.