GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. Western Colorado had a stellar morning Friday in the preliminaries session of the 2026 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships, then repeated many of those performances at night in Day 4's championship session as the Mountaineers put a stranglehold on fourth place in the team standings with just one more day to go.

The prelims produced nine lifetime best times of those swimmers who advanced to the night's finals session. And despite those new career numbers, the final session produced six more lifetime best times.

The Mountaineers earned the most points from an individual event with the 100-yard backstroke heats as six swimmers combined to add 56 points to Western's team total.

In the C consolation final, Sarah Krise popped her second lifetime best of the day, touching in a time of 58.99 seconds that placed 17th overall. Adessa Talbot (1:00.15) and Kylee Ruhser (1:01.03) added points from their 21st and 23rd place finishes.

In the B consols, Anna Jorstad posted a second career best time of the day, placing ninth overall with a new best time of 57.70. Lauryn Bingley (59.03) hit her second lifetime best with her 15th-place finish, while Cate Coffield (59.48) placed 16th with a time that was 11/100ths of a second off the lifetime best she swam in the prelims.

Another big points event for Western was the night's opening event, the 500 freestyle, which scored 44 team points.

The Mountaineers nearly filled the C final, with five swimmers in eight of the lanes.

Brionna Thomas (5:12.59) led the group with an 18th-place finish, with Agnieszka Rudomina (5:13.50) placing one spot back and AvaMarie Hopewell (5:13.72) in 20th place.

Capping off the heat for Western were Sophia Del Rosario (5:20.06) in 23rd and Sidney-Ann Morris (5:22.18) in 24th place.

Two heats later, Morgan Nielsen dove into the championship heat of the 500, placing seventh in a time of 5:07.35. Her prelims time of 5:07.04 had already surpassed the NCAA Division II provisional altitude adjusted time standard (5:08.89).

Another of the lifetime best swims in the session came from Ella Fries in the 100 breaststroke. Swimming in the B consolation final, Fries bettered the lifetime best from her prelims swim, registering a new lifetime best of 1:04.18 to place ninth overall.

The Mountaineers added more points from the C final of the event as Leah Wagner (1:05.26) placed 18th overall and Demi Blaylock (1:08.31) placed 24th.

The final individual event of the night saw a pair of Mountaineers in the championship heat of the 200 butterfly and Jaylen Lembas in the B final.

Lembas got things rolling with another lifetime best on the day, finishing 13th overall with a time of 2:11.24.

Talbot and Joanna Swiderska were next on the blocks, racing in the championship final of the event. Talbot had set a lifetime best in the morning prelims, then bettered that time at night, finishing third overall with a time of 2:06.53 – just 0.41 seconds off the NCAA provisional time standard.

Swiderska held her placing from the prelims, finishing sixth in the championship heat, touching the pads with a time of 2:08.96.

The final event of the session saw Western's 'A' and 'B' relays sprinting in the 200 freestyle relay.

With Western's highest relay finish of the championship meet, the 'A' foursome of Swiderska, Krise, Fries and Jorstad earned a fourth place for the Mountaineers, combining for a time of 1:36.46. The 'B' relay of Wagner, Hopewell, Bingley and Del Rosario would clock a time of 1:39.63, good for 13th place.

Host Colorado Mesa University sits atop the team leaderboard with 1,357.5 points, ahead of second place Colorado School of Mines' 991.5 points.

PRELIMS RECAP
Western Colorado swimmers finished off Friday morning's preliminaries session of the 2026 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships with its largest number of swimmers advancing into the Day 4 championship session at night, many of those Mountaineers already producing lifetime bests.

The last event of the morning's prelims session at the El Pomar Natatorium, the 200-yard butterfly, provided Western with two championship finalists and one more swimmer in the B consolation final.

Posting a career-best time of 2 minutes, 6.77 seconds to head into the championship heat as the No. 2 seed was Adessa Talbot. She'll be joined in that championship final by teammate Joanna Swiderska (2:08.27) who will be seeded sixth.

Jaylen Lembas swam to a career time of 2:11.93 in her prelims heat to move into the B final at night.

Talbot's time knocked on the door of the NCAA Division II provisional altitude adjusted time standard of 2:06.12.

The morning session started off with the 500 freestyle, an event that will see six Mountaineers in the nighttime's heats.

Morgan Nielsen will swim in the championship final after posting the seventh fastest time of 5:07.04, which surpassed the NCAA DII provisional altitude adjusted standard of 5:08.89.

The C consolation final will be filled predominantly by Mountaineers swimmers – five of the eight spots – as Brionna Thomas (5:15.46), AvaMarie Hopewell (5:15.54), Agnieszka Rudomina (5:17.14), Sidney-Ann Morris (a lifetime best of 5:19.26), and Sophia Del Rosario (5:24.44) will make it a Crimson and Slate heat.

Multiple career best swims came from Western's 100 backstroke entrants that advanced into the finals session.

Anna Jorstad leads three Mountaineers into the B consols with a career best time of 58.13 seconds. Lauryn Bingley (59.36) and Cate Coffield (59.37) also posted lifetime bests in the prelims to earn spots in the B final with Jorstad.

Three Western swimmers – Sarah Krise (59.61), Talbot (1:00.55), and Kylee Ruhser (1:00.77) – earned placement in the C final, with Krise and Ruhser both swimming to career bests.

The 100 breaststroke heat in the night session will feature a trio of Mountaineers, led by Ella Fries in the B final after a lifetime best swim of 1:04.87 in her prelims heat.

The C consols heat will include Western's Leah Wagner (1:06.03) and Demi Blaylock (1:08.24).

The evening's championship session is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and in addition to the individual events, will conclude with the 200 freestyle relay.