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Wyoming Opens Season Strong At Early Bird Invitational

Oct 26, 2000

LARAMIE, Wyo. - The University of Wyoming swimming and diving team dove back into competitive waters for the first time this season at the Early Bird Invitational in Fort, Collins, Colo. Wyoming came away from the two day event, which began on Friday, Oct. 20 and concluded on Saturday, with a solid overall team performance.

The Cowboys placed second out of eight teams with 811 points behind Mountain West Conference rival Air Force, who's team outnumbered the Pokes two-to-one in number of athletes, with 1,078.50 points.

A talented and young Cowgirl squad placed third out of 11 teams with 745 points. Host school and conference foe Colorado State won the women's team title with 875.50 points. Former Western Athletic Conference rival Fresno State placed second with 800 points.

Combined, both the men's and women's teams won nine events. Junior Oscar Delgado and sophomore Angie Sax each won two events. Delgado swept both diving events, winning the one-meter with a score of 448.40 and the three-meter with a score of 447.50. Sax took top honors in the 100 butterfly and the 200 butterfly with times of 58.48 and 2:08.28 respectively.

Damian Storz, the 2000 MWC men's freshman swimmer of the year, won the 400 individual medley in a time of 4:08.16. Storz also placed second in the 200 butterfly and the 200 IM. Sophomore Jake Weidert mirrored Storz by finishing first in the 200 butterfly (1:53.48) and second in the 400 IM with a time of 4:14.42.

Weidert and Storz were joined by senior Jason Garman and junior Guy Fulfer on Wyoming's winning 800 free relay team. The Pokes won the relay with a time of 7:06.38.

Rounding out the first-place finishers for the UW men was senior Buddy Boysen, who set a new meet record in the 100 butterfly, winning the event with a time of 50.09.

Other strong performances for the men were turned in by Garman in the 50 free who placed third in a time of 21.43 and Fulfer in the 100 free who placed second with a time of 47.98 and third in the 200 free (1:45.25).

The Cowgirls had many outstanding showings as well at the meet. Sophomore transfer Mabry Fiddler won the 200 breast with a time of 2:25.17. Fiddler also placed second in the 400 IM (4:37.92) and fourth in the 200 IM (2:11.75).

UW's women took three of the top five spots in the 100 breast with sophomore Missy Lewis placing first in a time of 1:08.55. She was followed by teammate Crystal Mecham, only a freshman, who placed second with a time of 1:09.43. Mecham also swam a strong 200 breast, finishing third (2:27.75).

Sophomore Jody Riskowski also put in a solid performance, placing third in the 100 back with a time of 59.59.

The Cowgirl divers had a great meet as well, placing three-four-five on the one-meter. Sophomore Lauren Colaric placed third (343.55) followed by freshman Channing Kimball and senior Wendy O'Connell. O'Connell also placed fifth in the three-meter event.

UW head swimming coach Tom Johnson said he was pleased with the teams first outing of the year.

"I thought the team competed real well. On the first day we came out real flat but we fought hard and finished strong." Johnson said. "We had many outstanding performances and a few surprises. Overall it was a solid start to our season which we can now build from."

Wyoming's next competition will be November 4, when they host Metro State at Corbett Pool. The dual meet with Metro will begin at 12:00 PM.