Divers Spring Cougars Into Lead

OKLAHOMA CITY -- After day one of the Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, BYU's women and No. 15 men lead the competition with 124 and 120 points, respectively.

The men are ahead of second-place Wyoming by 20 points, thanks largely in part to the divers. Sophomore Justin Wilcock won the 1-meter springboard event with a score of 326.50 while sophomore All-American Aaron Russell finished second, scoring 320.55. Junior Viraj Patil finished fourth with a score of 260.50 to earn 15 points for the Cougars.

In the first relay of the day for the men, the 200 free relay team of Mike Mullen, Jeff Mason, Gary Tan and William Betz finished second behind UNLV, with a time of 1:20.78. In the final event of the day, the 200 medley relay team of Arunas Savickas, Nick Tobler, Jay Buys and Mike Mullen finished second with a time of 1:29.62, only seven one-hundredths of a second behind the winning Air Force team.

"We swam well, but lost some close races," BYU men's coach Tim Powers said. "We've got strong events in the next few days with the 500 free, 200 IM and the 50 free, so we are looking forward to that."

For the women, the 200 medley relay team of Ashlee Rumfallow, Jennifer Tasker, Heidi Lietz and Nikki Tadlock finished first and set a new BYU record with a time of 1:42.53, while the 200 free relay team managed a fourth-place finish to score 28 points for the Cougars. Sophomore Kelli Einfeldt and senior Anna Tutunnikova finished second and third on the 1-meter springboard with scores of 246.35 and 241.05, respectively.

The MWC Swimming and Diving Championships continue through Saturday.

Team Scores (after Day 1)

Men Women

BYU 120 BYU 124

Wyoming 100 Colorado St. 104

Air Force 92 Utah 79

UNLV 91 Wyoming 76

Utah 70