GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.  Western Colorado finished the opening day of the 2022 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championship in fourth place on the women's team leaderboard.

In the first event of the finals session, the 200-yard freestyle relay quartet of Courtney Coplan Kali Stier, Taylor Grebe and Addison O'Donnell put together a fourth-place finish with a time of 1 minute, 38.73 seconds.

In the consolation heat of the relay, Audrey Jacobs, Bella Gamez, Megan Walton and Chloe Walker teamed up to earn 12th place, touching in 1:42.33.

The opening individual event of the night saw a trio of Mountaineers on the block in the 200  individual medley.

Bese and Walton were back quickly from the relay, swimming in the consolation heat of the IM. Bese posted a time of 2:16.06 to finish seventh in the heat and 15th overall, while Walton was eighth in the heat and 16th overall in a time of 2:16.97.

A pair of sprinters were up next for Western. O'Donnell came into the consolation heat of the 50 free seeded 11th but moved up to 10th after hitting the pad in 24.22 seconds, bettering her preliminary time (24.48) from the morning.

Also racing in the consols heat of the 50 was Coplan who clocked a 25.25 to finish 16th overall.

In the 1,000 free, the timed-final event's top eight seeds swam in the evening session. Western's three entrants were seeded outside that group and swim in the morning prelims session.

After the finals heat was completed, Jordan Maruska's time of 10:58.67 wound up in 10th place, Demetra Fellows (10:58.78) finished 11th and Lauren Linneman (10:59.11) was 12th.

Before the final swimming event of the evening, Western's Sarah Mortenson climbed the ladder for the finals of the 3-meter diving event.

The preliminary session of the 3-meter took place in the afternoon with 11 dives and Mortenson posting a score of 375.70.

All divers carried over into the evening finals the scores from their five voluntary dives, getting the opportunity to re-dive their six optional dives.

Mortenson, starting with 142.50 points, posted the highest score of her six finals dives on her opening dive, a forward 2 ½ pike, totaling 42.00 points. She finished the session with 327.75 points and in fifth place.

The final swimming event of the evening session wat the 200 medley relay. The 'B' relay of Liddle, Bese, Jacobs and Maruska was 12th in a time of 1:53.48. In the championship heat, Coplan, Trinity Caudle, Fellows and Grebe swam to a fifth-place touch with a time of 1:51.10.

In team scoring at the end of the night, Western claimed fourth place with 92 points.

At the top of the scoreboard was host Colorado Mesa University with 333.5 points, followed by second place Colorado School of Mines with 161.5 points.

PRELIMINARIES Report
Wednesday's opening session of the four-day Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference swimming and diving championships produced five Western Colorado swimmers who advanced into the evening finals session.

The morning's preliminaries session included the 200-yard individual medley, the 50 freestyle, and all but the top eight seeds in the 1,000 free. In the 200 IM and the 50, the fastest eight swimmers from the morning will compete in the night's championship final, with the next eight fastest racing in the consolation final.

Tayla Liddle will represent the Mountaineers in the championship final of the 200 IM after posting in the prelims the seventh fastest time of 2 minutes, 12.31 seconds. Liddle's time is a season best by 1.5 seconds.

Two other Western swimmers, Megan Walton and Adrianna Bese will swim in the consols heat of the same event. Both hit the pad in season best times, Walton (with the 13th fastest time in prelims) finishing in 2:14.92 and Bese (14th) touching in 2:15.07. Bese's time is a five-second drop from her previous best this season, and Walton eclipsed her season best by 1.4 seconds.

In the 50 free it will be Addison O'Donnell and Courtney Coplan stepping up onto the blocks Wednesday night in the consolation heat. O'Donnell (11th) shaved a half second off her previous season best with her prelims time of 24.48 seconds, while Coplan (14th) matched that with a half-second drop for a time of 24.72.

It was heartbreak for Western's Taylor Grebe who, though she posted a season best time of 24.94, fell one spot shy of advancing into the evening session by 0.10 seconds, placing 17th in her morning sprint.

The 1,000 free is a timed final event, with the top eight seeds swimming in the evening session. Three Mountaineer swimmers were seeded in the morning session with Jordan Maruska posting the second fastest time (10:58.67) of the morning entrants.

Demetra Fellows posted a season best (by 12.5 seconds) of 10:58.67 for the third fastest time in the session, with teammate Lauren Linneman right behind in a time of 10:59.11.

Day 1 of the meet includes an afternoon session of women's 3-meter diving prelims (final dives in the evening session) in which Western's Sarah Mortensen will compete.

The 5 p.m. evening finals session will also include the timed finals of the 200 free relay and 200 medley relay. The Western quartets in each of the two relays enter the finals seeded in fourth place.