GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. Western Colorado on Thursday nearly erased the gap between third place Oklahoma Christian and the Mountaineers, using three finalists in the 1-meter diving event to pull within two points of the Eagles after Day 3 of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference 2023 Swimming & Diving Championship.

Western began the day 47 points behind OCU, but outpointed the Eagles 141-96 Thursday, with a major boost coming from divers Meredith Clabaugh, Alexandra Wallis and Taylor Grebe.

The three qualified for the evening session from the afternoon's preliminary 11-dive event, almost filling up half of the eight finalists who advanced to the finals.

Clabaugh totaled 421.50 points to earn a third-place finish, while Wallis was sixth with 399.25 points and Grebe finished eighth with 298.90 points.

The evening session opened with AvaMarie Hopewell in the consolation heat of the 100-yard butterfly. The freshman improved her prelims time and finished 14th overall with a time of 59.64 seconds.

Another event that added a bounty of points came next, the 400 individual medley.

In the consolation heat it was three Mountaineers putting points on the board, led by Leah Wagner's 10th-place time of 4 minutes, 47.71 seconds, a four second improvement on her prelims swim. Lauren Linneman (4:50.64) added a 12th place and Bella Gamez (4:59.29) added a 15th place.

Wagner made her move in the third 100, posting a breaststroke split of 1:19, bested by only three other finalists in the night, all from the championship heat.

That championship final included Western's LynDea Turner who moved up a spot from the prelims, finished seventh with a time of 4:41.75, a five second improvement from the morning. Turner's big move in the race came on the backstroke leg where her split of 1:08 was the fourth fastest of all finalists in the event.

The 200 freestyle consolation heat followed, with Addison O'Donnell and Tayla Liddle stepping up on to the blocks. Both Mountaineers challenged for the lead at different times in the heat, with O'Donnell finishing just 12/100ths of a second behind the heat winner, posting a 10th-place time of 1:54.36.

Liddle moved into third after the third 50 before finishing fourth in the heat by 10/100ths of a second, touching in 1:55.18 for a 13th-place finish.

The championship heat brought Jordan Maruska to the forefront. Seeded eight after the prelims she finished in that spot, hitting the pad in the outside lane in a time of 1:55.69.

The divers were next up and pushed Western, for the moment, ahead of OCU (213-211) heading into the final event of the session, the 400 medley relay.

The 'B' foursome of Turner, Trinity Caudle, Anna Maurello and Maruska finished 12th overall after posting a time of 4:02.78.

The 'A' championship heat put Courtney Coplan into the water first for Western, and she responded with a lead-off backstroke split of 57.09 to hand off third place to O'Donnell, who maintained that position though OCU's breaststroker was able to trim into the Mountaineer advantage.

Hopewell split a 59.07 for her butterfly leg but OCU's flyer posted the third-fastest split of the night to inch past the Mountaineers. Makenna Lambert fought back on the freestyle anchor leg, with a 52.54 that was bested by only the top two teams in the heat, to close the gap and finish the relay in a fourth-place time of 3:54.08, less than a second behind OCU's third-place quartet.

NEXT UP
Friday morning's prelims session included the 500 free, 100 back, 100 breast and 200 fly events. Those events plus the 200 free relay will make up the night's championship session.

PRELIMS RECAP
Western Colorado looks to make up on ground in the team standings after Thursday's preliminary session of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference swimming and diving championship.

Trailing third-place Oklahoma Christian (OCU) by 37 points entering the day, the Mountaineers have the edge in the number of finalists Thursday night, eight to six, and have three divers compared to none from OCU competing in the afternoon prelims of the 1-meter board.

100-yard Butterfly

• AvaMarie Hopewell will be the lone Mountaineer representative at night, posting a prelims time of 59.84 seconds to earn the No. 14 seed and a spot in the consolation final. OCU has one championship finalist (seventh) and one (15th) with Hopewell in the consols heat.
• On the outside looking in by just 0.3 seconds will be Western's Anna Maurello whose time of 1 minute, 0.74 seconds placed her 18th and just out of reach of the consolation final.

400 Individual Medlay

• The event should be a boon to the Mountaineers in the points race, with four swimmers returning at night, double the number of OCU swimmers.
• LynDea Turner carries the flag for Western in the championship final after hitting the pad in prelims with a time of 4:46.18, the eighth fastest swim in the morning. OCU's finalist will be seeded fourth.
• The points shift should occur in the consols where, despite OCU having the top seed in the heat, the Mountaineers will counter with three swimmers who advanced from the prelims.
• Lauren Linneman's time of 4:50.25 was 10th fastest in the morning (less than a second behind the OCU time), and she'll be joined in that consolation final by Leah Wagner (12th, 4:51.99) and Bella Gamez (14th, 5:02.32).

200 Freestyle

• Another boon in points should come from the 200 as Western pushed the only swimmer between the two teams into the championship final, and the two Mountaineers advancing into the consols split the two OCU swimmers in the heat.
• Jordan Maruska – who finished 11th in the 1,000 free Wednesday – qualified for Thursday's championship final in the 200 with a prelims swim of 1:55.10.
• The consolation final includes a pair of Mountaineers already scoring points in the previous sessions. Tayla Liddle – who set a school record Wednesday night in the 200 individual medley in taking 11th place – will be seeded 14th in the 200 free consols after finishing her prelims swim with a time of 1:56.65.
• Another Wednesday finalist, Addison O'Donnell with a 13th in the 50 free, registered a 200 free time of 1:55.82 Thursday morning, advancing to the consolation heat with the 13th-fastest time.
• OCU's swimmers posted the 11th and 15th fastest prelims times to advance to the night's consols.