GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.  The Mountaineers strengthened their hold on fourth place Friday night at the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships, getting points from 15 different swimmers and 3 divers to head into the final day of the meet with nearly a 150-point lead over fifth place Oklahoma Christian University.

Western got career-best times from six swimmers in extending its lead over OCU by 60 points.

The distance swimmers got the momentum-ball rolling for the Mountaineers in the opening event. Four swimmers swam in the 'C' consolation final of the 500-yard freestyle, followed by Morgan Nielsen's swim in the championship heat.

Earning points from that 'C' final were Makenna Lambert with a 19th place finish in a time of 5 minutes, 11.83 seconds. AvaMarie Hopewell (5:12.61) and Sophia Del Rosario (5:18.19) were next in 21st and 22nd place, respectively, and Sidney-Ann Morris posted a career-best time of 5:22.89 to take 24th place.

Nielsen earned sixth place in the championship final, finishing in a school-record time of 5:02.14, breaking the record she'd set in the morning prelims (5:03.52) which broke the record she set last year (5:04.38) at the NCAA Division II Championship meet.

Maggie Dean set a new personal best in the 'C' final of the 100 backstroke, earning 18th place with a time of 1:00.69, while teammate Amayah (1:01.16) Warren added team points with her 20th place in the event.

The Mountaineers also added a 12th-place from LynDea Turner, who posted a time of 59.23 in the 'B' consols.

The 100 breaststroke was perhaps Western's best event of the night as four swimmers placed in the top 16 with three posting career bests.

Trinity Caudle raced to a 5th-place finish in the championship final with a career best 1:04.38. And from the 'B' consols, Leah Wagner (1:05.27) earned 11th place, Ella Fries (1:06.54) 13th, and Demi Blaylock (1:07.30) 16th, Wagner and Blaylock each registering career-best times in the heat.

Elisa Elsberry finished 11th overall in the 200 butterfly, achieving a career-best 2:14.00 from the 'B' consols, just behind 10th-place Joanna Swiderska (2:12.73). In the championship final, Adessa Talbot placed seventh with a season best 2:09.92.

Before the relays finished the night, Chloe Brown, Alexandra Wallis and Ashlynn Mixon chimed in with points from fourth-, eighth-, and 11th-place finishes, respectively, on the 3-meter board.

Brown and Wallis advanced to the finals session at night from the afternoon's 11-dive prelims, Brown scoring 464.30 points and Wallis 411.55 in the final tallies.

The Mountaineers closed out the night with a season best time from their A relay in the 200 free relays. Swiderska, Madi Zach, Fries and Del Rosario earned a fifth-place finish with their time of 1:37.66.

The B relay consisting of Dean, Grace Garner, Blalock and Hopewell finished in 1:41.23 to take 14th place overall.

UP NEXT
The Mountaineers have one more day to go at the championship meet, with Saturday's lineup including the 1,650 free, 100 free, 200 back, 200 breast and 400 free relay.

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PRELIMS RECAP
Fifteen different Mountaineer swimmers have advanced from Friday's preliminary session into the championship session at night on Day 4 of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships at El Pomar Natatorium.

Western Colorado sits in fourth place within the team standings, and the lengthy list of finalists – along with the possibility of divers advancing from the afternoon's 3-meter prelims – figure to add to the point total.

Of the four individual events contested during the prelims, Western pushed a swimmer into three of those respective championship heats.

Morgan Nielsen finished the preliminary heats of the women's 500-yard freestyle with the sixth fastest time, entering the championship final after posting a time of 5 minutes, 3.52 seconds.

In the 100 breaststroke, Trinity Caudle qualified eighth with her prelims time of 1:05.14.

And in the 200 butterfly, Adessa Talbot swam her way into the championship heat with a 2:10.81, the fifth-fastest time from the prelims.

Six Mountaineers advanced into the 'B' consolation heats.

LynDea Turner qualified 12th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.53 seconds. In the 100 breaststroke, the Mountaineers will send Ella Fries (12th, 1:06.55), Leah Wagner (13th, 1:06.94) and Demi Blaylock (16th, 1:07.46) into that 'B' final. And both Joanna Swiderska (9th, 2:10.96) and Elisa Elsberry (12th, 2:14.42) will be in the 'B' heat of the 200 butterfly.

Both the 500 free and 100 backstroke events will include Mountaineers in their respective 'C' finals.

Half the field in the 'C' consolation heat of the 500 will consist of Mountaineers. Makenna Lambert (5:12.51) is 18th after the morning prelims, AvaMarie Hopewell (5:17.04) is 19th, Sophia Del Rosario (5:20.95) is 22nd and Sidney-Ann Morris (5:22.55) is 23rd.

In the backstroke, Amayah Warren's 1:01.94 from prelims enters the night as the 20th seeded time and Maggie Dean (1:02.57) joins her in the heat as the 22nd seed.

Chloe Brown, Alexandra Wallis and Ashlynn Mixon will be competing in the afternoon for advancement to the championship session of the women's 3-meter diving event. The trio will run through an 11-dive list with 15 other divers, with the top eight scores moving on.

The final event of the night will be the 200 free relay and the Mountaineers will have both an A and B relay entered.