Women's Swimming | 2/28/2025 9:26:00 PM

Utah Tech picked up its first medal of the 2025 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, which wrapped up day three on Friday night at the CRWC Natatorium in Houston, Texas.

Day three saw the Trailblazers vault up one spot to seventh place overall with 172 points, 18 points clear of eighth place Seattle U (154 pts). Northern Arizona remains in the lead with 531 points, followed by New Mexico State (398 pts) in second and California Baptist (376 pts) in third.
 
Utah Tech reached the podium in the 100-yard backstroke "A" final, where Mary Sims Cross was barely edged out for the gold medal by just three-tenths of one second, though she did claim the silver medal with a season-best time of 54.99. 
 
Last season as a freshman, Cross won bronze in both the 100 back and 200 back at the WAC Championships. 
 
Cross the one of two Trailblazers to qualify for an "A" final, the second was Alyssa Gordon, who placed fifth-overall in the 400 IM with a personal-best time of 4:22.08, which was the fourth-fastest time recorded in program history.
 
Meanwhile in the 400 IM "C" final, Allie Hayes touched the wall first at 4:32.33 (PR), followed by Kaiya Lawson in third at 4:30.78 (PR). 
 
In the 200 free finals, Natalia Zmierczak clocked the sixth-fastest time in program history en route to a win in the "B" final, while Cera Mallory placed third in that race at 1:50.32, which was the ninth-fastest time in school history.
 
In addition, Grace Benson won the "C" final in the 100 back at 55.87 (season best), and Yara Olsen placed third in the 100 breast "B" final at 1:03.56. 

Utah Tech then closed the night with an eighth-place finish in the fourth 400 medley relay with a time of 3:46.26, which was the eighth-fastest relay time recorded in that event in program history.
 
The final day of competition at the 2024 WAC Championships will begin on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. (MT), with the preliminary heats in the 200 backstroke. The final races will follow on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (MT), with the championship heats in the 1,650 free.