OKLAHOMA CITY -- For the first time in five years the Mountain West Conference crowned a new champion on Saturday night. For the first time in five years it wasn't the Cougars. Both the UNLV men and women took home the MWC championship titles in Oklahoma City with the men ousting the Cougars 839 to 745.50 while the women posted a 701.50 to 670 victory.
The men and women of BYU held the lead after day one, but the Rebels stood lurking to take over the top spots. The men fell to second place after day two while the women were leading, heading in the final day of competition. The turning point on Saturday for the women came in the second event of the night, the 100 free.
Heidi Lietz-McMillan was the lone swimmer to qualify for the Cougars in the finals of the event with teammate Rebecca Larson qualifying for the consolation bracket. The pair placed seventh and eleventh with times of 52.19 and 52.28. UNLV qualified two in the finals and three in the consolation bracket to outscore the Cougars 49 to 17.
"The 100 free was the turning point of the meet," women's head coach Stan Crump said. "We swam well, really, we swam our hearts out and I'm proud of my team."
It appeared that the Cougars would have the meet well in hand when Brittany Davis defended her title and swam to a first place finish in the first event of the evening, the 200 back, with an NCAA provisional time of 1:59.41. Natasha Schlup and Carolyn Wigginton also qualified for the finals and finished in fourth and fifth place touching the wall at 2:02.53 and 2:03.04.
Melanie Grant continued her surprising conference championships by following up her first place finish in the 100 breast the night before with a second place finish in the 200 breast with an NCAA provisional time of 2:17.96. Freshman Jamie Bloom who dominated in the breast during the regular season also made it to the finals placing seventh (2:19.89).
Another freshman for the Cougars, U-Nice Chan was the lone qualifier for the finals of the 200 fly for BYU. The native of Singapore swam her way to a third place finish with a time of 2:04.83.
Junior Aubrey Low was able to dive to the fifth spot in the platform competition scoring 353.10 in the event. Because of the efforts of his divers, BYU head diving coach Keith Russell was award diving coach of the year for both the men and women's side.
The women finished their MWC championships with a fourth place finish in the 400 free relay, with the team of Angela Goodson, McMillan, Larson and Davis swimming the event in 3:28.74.
The men had a hard time again catching the Rebels who seemed to do no wrong during the weekend's competition. The Cougars placed one and two in the platform competition when freshman Ron Morris placed ahead of teammate Scott Randall for a 473.85 to 459.05 finish. Despite finishing second in the event, Randall was named Mountain West Conference male diver of the year.
The men's other highlights came on two second place finishes. Junior Nicholas Tobler's time of 2:00.63 was good enough for the two spot and an NCAA provisional time in the 200 breast and as a team BYU swam to a second place victory in the 400 free relay with another NCAAB time of 2:58.44.
"We swam very well tonight," Men's head coach Tim Powers said, "Our hats are off to UNLV. We swam well, but they just swam better than us."
Teammates Kenny Carpenter and Dougie Broadbent swam back to back times in the 200 fly with marks of 1:48.96 and 1:50.29. The times were good enough for fourth and fifth place for the senior and freshman.
The event of the evening for the Cougars may have been in the 200 breast. BYU qualified four swimmers for the finals with Tobler in second, and Adam Ware, Ben McKee and Christian Armstrong finishing in fifth, sixth and seventh with times of 2:02.53, 2:03.86 and 2:04.72. The event scored 56 points for the Cougars.
Brett Allen and Jorge Azevedo qualified for the finals in the 100 free with two of the better times of the morning. The pair finished the event with a fourth and seventh place finish in the evening finals with times of 44.43 (NCAAB time) and 45.05.
The changing of the champions at the MWC championships has seemed to balance out the power in the conference and renewed fresh rivalries. The Mountain West will welcome TCU next season, which will impact both the men and women. The TCU men are four-time Conference USA Invitational champions while the women have been either first or second over the last two years.