GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. The Mountaineers opened strongly on Day 1 of the five-day 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference swimming and diving championship meet, registering fourth- and 11th-place finishes in the only event of the opening session, the 800-yard freestyle relay.
The relay points slotted Western in third place with 42 points, only four behind second-place Oklahoma Christian University and 16 behind leader and host, Colorado Mesa University.
The 'B' quartet of
Afton Page,
Anna Maurello,
Emma Smith and
LynDea Turner were in the session's opening heat, the consolation final of the relay.
Both Page and Maurello matched splits for their 200-yard legs, 2 minutes and 3 seconds each, turning things over to Smith who rallied the foursome from fifth to fourth place with a 2:02.54 split. Turner maintained that position to the pads, closing in a time of 2:00.73 for a total time of 8:10.21.
A bonus for the relay was the disqualification of one team ahead at the finish, moving the 'B' relay up a spot to an 11th-place finish.
The championship finalists stepped up on the blocks next with
AvaMarie Hopewell set to lead off the 'A' team.
Hopewell's 1:58.28 gave way to
Tayla Liddle's 1:57.55 and halfway through the race the Mountaineers were three seconds ahead of a fifth-place Colorado State University Pueblo squad.
Jordan Maruska went next and posted the fastest split, 1:56.47, of the four Western swimmers, extending the Mountaineers' lead over Pueblo by another second, handing anchor
Addison O'Donnell a four-second cushion.
O'Donnell almost matched Maruska's time, finishing her leg off with a 1:56.59 split and securing the fourth-place finish for the team.
Colorado Mesa's 'A' and 'B' relays won both the championship and consolation finals, respectively, with each surpassing the NCAA provisional time standard into the national championship meet.
UP NEXT
Wednesday preliminary heats of the 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, and 1,000 freestyle begin at 9 am. The top 16 swimmers in each event will return for the evening session, beginning at 5 p.m., with the session closing with the 200 medley relay.
