GUNNISON, Colo.  Western Colorado's swimming & diving program opens its 2024-25 schedule on Friday, September 27 with the home half of a split location meet, hosting Adams State and Colorado State Pueblo in the Paul Wright Natatorium on Day 1 of the two-day 2nd Annual Dan France Continental Coaches Classic.

Day 2 will be hosted by Adams State in Alamosa, Colo., with the separate meet schedule scores of the double-duals from each day combined afterward.

WESTERN COLORADO HEADING INTO THE MEET

• The Mountaineers are coming off a 2023-24 campaign in which they went undefeated in dual meets and sent a swimmer, then-freshman Morgan Nielsen, to the NCAA Division II championship meet.
• Morgan set school records in the 500-, 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle events at the 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship meet, then broke her record in the 500 at the NCAA meet.
• Also returning after setting a school record last season is junior Leah Wagner, who broke the 200 breaststroke mark in the event final at the RMAC meet, besting the preliminaries time and school record of senior teammate Trinity Caudle.
• Back on the diving boards after an injury season is Alexandra Wallis, who dove in the 2023 NCAA D-II Diving Qualification Meet. Wallis will be joined on the 1-meter board Friday by sophomore returner Ashlynn Mixon and newcomer Chloe Brown, a grad transfer diver from Cal State Bakersfield.
• Nielsen was a second-team All-RMAC swimmer in 2023-24, as were also returners Makenna Lambert and Misha Little.
• Western placed fifth in the team standings at the 2024 RMAC championship.
• Head coach Vickie Fellows added 13 recruits from the 2034-24 recruiting cycle to the program, ranging from nearby Colorado Springs and Denver to Poland.

ADAMS STATE HEADING INTO THE MEET

• The Grizzlies dropped a pair of dual meets to Western during the 2023-24 season, and placed ninth at the 2024 RMAC championship meet.
• The highest placing returners for ASU from the 2023 RMAC meet are Samantha Buttermore and Jocelyn Jones. Buttermore finished 22nd in the 100 breaststroke, and Jones was 26th in the 50 free.

COLORADO STATE PUEBLO HEADING INTO THE MEET

• The ThunderWolves also lost twice in duals with Western, then concluded the RMAC championship meet in seventh place.
• CSU Pueblo returns three of four swimmers who earned second-team All-RMAC honors in 2023-24. Paola C Wu earned her spot with a fourth-place finish in the 400 individual medley. She was also part of a fourth-place 200 medley relay foursome, with returners Carla Sanchez Guareno and Olivia Dannhause joining her on that relay team.

COACHES CLASSIC DETAILS

• The Classic runs as pair of invitational-style meets on consecutive days with different event schedules, the opening day contested at Western Colorado's Paul Wright Natatorium and the second hosted at Adams State's Plachy Hall.
• The competitions will result in 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-place team point totals each day. Though Friday's event schedule will be scored as a separate meet from Saturday, the Coaches Classic team champion will come from combining the final scores on Friday with those on Saturday.
• Diving is scheduled only on Friday at Western, with an opening event of the 1-meter 6-optionals and a closing event of the 5 voluntaries on 1-meter.

UP NEXT
Western will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., on October 5 for the Lobo double-dual hosted by the University of New Mexico and including the Mountaineers and the University of North Texas.