Amber Walter is steadily proving why she won Mountain West Conference Swimmer of the Year honors last year. The same can be said for Diver of the Year Kelsey Patterson.
Each woman won weekly MWC honors this week for their performances against TCU and both women performed equally as well on opposite sides of the pool to lead the Utes to a 180-120 win over the Colorado State Rams Thursday.
The Utes (6-0, 4-0) handed the Rams their first conference loss of the season, and it comes as no surprise that Amber Walter played a huge factor in the win.
Against TCU, Walter turned in the fast 50 freestyle time by swimming the event in 23.59 seconds. Walter shaved .09 seconds off that score Thursday night by swimming a 23.50 in the 50 free.
Walter also participated in the meet against CSU– this time a bit differently from usual–as she swam in the 100 breast event instead of the 100 freestyle race. The typical results didn’t change however, as Walter took first in that event as well with a time of 1:04.54.
The Utes’ 400 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams also got a huge boast from Walter’s presence as each team came away with wins as well.
Alison McInturff took advantage of Walter’s absence from the 100 freestyle race as she collected one of her four victories with a time of 52.54. McInturff also won 200 free, the 200 individual medley, and she teamed up with Walter, Shannon McQueen and Jennifer Fredsall in the 200 medley relay.
For diving, Patterson swept both the 1- and 3-meter dives for the sixth straight time. Patterson’s wins were particularly impressive, as she beat CSU junior Elyse Hall–who posted strong scores of her own–by 43.06 points.
“It was a good night for the senior girls against a tough Colorado State team,” head coach Mike Litzinger said. “We are on a very good track and we’re excited for the meet against New Mexico.”
The Ute women will have their quickest turnaround of the season thus far, as they must now travel to Albuquerque to take on the New Mexico Lobos–who are 2-2 in the conference– on Saturday.
With neither CSU nor New Mexico fielding a men’s swimming team this year, the men’s team will have to wait until Jan. 26 to compete again. The Utes will then host their first home meet in more than three months when take on the Wyoming Cowboys.