Men's Swim and Dive Finishes Third at WAC Championships, Women Place Fifth

Saturday, March 2

Edinburg, TX

California Baptist University

Western Athletic Conference

Men's Swim and Dive Finishes Third at WAC Championships, Women Place Fifth

3/3/2024 12:18:00 AM | Swimming and Diving

Swim Results Dive Results

By: Daniel Cook, Director of Athletics Communications & Digital Media

EDINBURG, TX - California Baptist University men's swim and dive are back on the podium as a team at the Western Athletic Conference for the first time since 2020 after finishing in third place in 2024. The Lancers had been in the hunt all week long but sealed the standings today with a strong showing on the final day of action. UNLV took the men's crown for the fourth year in a row, finishing with 972 points, while Grand Canyon edged the Lancers on Saturday, 643 to 612.

After the championship's conclusion, Associate Head Coach Jim Bossert reflected on the men's podium effort, saying, "The men had a phenomenal meet this week. Gael and Mario absolutely crushing it on the boards and breaking all kinds of WAC records certainly set the tone for our whole program this week. Swimmers stepped up when they needed to. Tyler Mansheim, with two podium finishes in his first season, is phenomenal. We outscored our projections throughout the entire week. Just an amazing effort by our gentleman to come in and perform the way. They did both on the boards and in the pool."

The Lancer women fought hard till the very end, even leading the final event for most of the relay, ultimately finishing with 424 points to land between Northern Colorado in fourth place with 495 points and Idaho at 383.5 points. Northern Arizona continued their absolute domination of WAC women's swimming and diving, earning their 11th-straight conference title with 972 points, over 300 more than second-place Grand Canyon.

With post-meet thoughts on the women's weekend, coach Bossert said, "The women created an attitude of excellence right from the start. To have podium finishes in three different relays when we were projected to have none is unheard of. We were underestimated all year, and the ladies showed off all their hard work across all four days. The divers crushed it like always. It was an outstanding week for our women."

CBU returns home with eight individual or relay WAC Championships, 35 All-WAC honorees, and 35 additional point-scorers during the four-day event. Tyler Mansheim and Andrew Teh also bring home new program records, while Gael Jimenez and Mario Del Valle rewrote the entire WAC men's diving record book. Sofia Maksimova set two new WAC individual records in the 50 and 100 Free. She added a pair of school records in the 100 fly and as part of the quartet that included Nicole Reynolds, Emily Drossel, and Faith Brazil in the 200 Medley Relay.

Looking ahead, Kovacsics, Mansheim, and Maksimova earned NCAA B Cuts in the 1650 Free, 100 Free, 50 Free, and 100 Fly, respectively, and will likely be swimming in the NCAA Championships in a few weeks. Still, it is not certain until the official invites are sent out. The diving side is a little different; prior to NCAA's, there are Zone Qualifiers to tackle, and there is guaranteed to be a small army of Lancers in Flagstaff for this year's Zones. Del Valle, Jimenez, John Angelovic, Natallia Bedolla, and Audrey Thordarson-Wehner already have marks to compete in all three events at qualifiers. Audrey Easter will travel for the 1-meter and platform events, while Jacob Penman and Nate Warson will have a shot in the 1-meter event.

When reflecting on the 2023-24 season, Bossert added, "This year was unlike any other. Coach Rick Rowland and Coach Lisa Siregar put together two phenomenal rosters for the men's and women's teams. Coach Miranda King has been an amazing addition for the divers. I truly believe we have the best staff in the WAC. It was a true team effort this season from top to bottom."

WAC CHAMPIONS

Mark Kovacsics