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UNLV Men And BYU Women Lead After Day Two Of MWC Championships

Feb 16, 2001

Oklahoma City, Okla. - UNLV men edged defending Mountain West Conference Champions BYU on the second day of the 2001 Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. The BYU women retain their lead after two days of competition.

On the men's side, UNLV holds a slim 16-point lead over BYU, 306 to 290. Air Force has third at 198, Wyoming is fourth at 132 points and Utah fifth with 88. On the women's side BYU holds a comfortable lead with 358.50 over Colorado State's second place spot at 255. Utah and UNLV are fourth and fifth with 183 and 168.50 points, respectively. Air Force (151) holds a one-point lead over Wyoming (150) for the sixth place spot. New Mexico (114) squeaked past San Diego (103) for the seventh-place position.

The 50-yard freestyle finals late Thursday evening gave the UNLV men the edge they needed to surpass BYU. UNLV claimed the first, second and fourth place spots. Piotr Krzyskow of UNLV claimed the gold with a time of 19.84, a MWC record. He was closely followed by teammate Garrett Wood with a time of 19.92. Charlie Toth of Air Force claimed the third-place spot with a time of 20.08.

Olympian Jacint Simon of UNLV finished first over BYU's Olympian and MWC record holder Arunas Savikas in the 500-yard freestyle by almost three seconds at 4:21.19. Savikas claimed the silver with a time of 4:24.03. Paul Valen of UNLV clinched the third medal spot at 4:29.83.

BYU's Gary Tan earned an individual gold for the Cougars in the 200-yard individual medley at 1:49.42. UNLV was right on his heels claiming the second and third-place awards. Doug Wake finished second at 1:49.99 and teammate Quincy Schmidt claimed third with a time of 1:50.21.

In the 400-yard medley relay, BYU picked up a team gold swimming to a 3:16.29 finish. Air Force and UNLV were neck and neck for the second-place spot. Air Force emerged victorious with a time of 3:19.02 while UNLV claimed the bronze at 3:19.90.

On the women's side, UNLV finished strong in the 500-yard freestyle. Olympian Lorena Diaconescu earned the gold finishing at 4:49.53. Teammate Alyson Noble clocked in right behind her at 4:51.23. Utah's Kristen Kaiser won the bronze finishing at 4:55.59.

BYU's Ashlee Rumfallow picked up a gold in the 200-yard IM touching the wall at 2:03.60. Colorado State's Lyndsey Carlaw claimed the runner-up spot finishing at 2:04.35. Tamber Covington of BYU finished third at 2:05.51.

To insure their first-place spot for the evening, BYU pulled in two more golds and a silver. Divers Anna Tutunnikova and Kellie Einfeldt of BYU finished first and second on the 3-meter board with scores of 462.40 and 449.65, respectively. Air Force's Sarah Law finished third, posting a final score of 439.60.

The 400-yard individual medley relay closed out the women's competition for the day. BYU finished first with a time of 3:46.09. Colorado State held on to their second-place spot by finishing second with at time of 3:47.81. Utah slipped past UNLV with a time of 3:49.29 to claim third. UNLV came in fourth at 3:50.03 to finish in the top half. San Diego State (3:52.41), Air Force (3.53.16), Wyoming (3:54.07) and New Mexico (3:57.88) filled in the remaining spots, respectively.

Day three of competition begins Friday at 11 a.m. with the 400-yard individual medley preliminaries. Finals begin at 6 p.m. The 2001 Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships are in Oklahoma City through Saturday.