Watson Receives Diver Of The Week

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -UNLV senior Kier Maitland and BYU junior Brandon Watson have been named Mountain West Conference Men's Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, while San Diego State freshman Kelly Marquenie garnered women's swimmer of the week and junior Kristen Meier earned women's diver of the week honors.

Maitland, a product of Edmonton, Alberta, led UNLV to a 179.5-111.5 dual-meet victory over Conference foe Utah on Saturday to help the Rebels secure the program's third overall MWC regular-season championship with an 8-0 mark in league duals. The senior recorded first place finishes in three individual events. He paced the field in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9.31.40, and won the very next event on the schedule with a mark of 1:40.52 in the 200-yard freestyle. Maitland also took first in the 500-yard freestyle (4:32.60).

Watson, from Riverton, Utah, swept the springboard events in the Cougars' dual meet at TCU on Friday. The junior posted the league's top score this season on the 3-meter springboard, tallying 419.30 points to win the event and qualify for the NCAA zone meet. He also turned in the MWC's second-highest score on the 1-meter board, collecting 382.20 points to lead all divers and qualify for the postseason.

Marquenie, a native of Gold Coast, Australia, set four pool records in San Diego State's meets vs. Wyoming, Hawai'i and UC San Diego. The freshman swept the frees tyle distance events vs. the Cowgirls on Friday, setting a program and Aztec Aquaplex record in the 1000-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 9:53.71. She also broke a pool record in the 500 free (4:51.56) to help the Aztecs defeat Wyoming, 161-128, en route to the team's first-ever MWC regular-season title. On Saturday at UC San Diego, Marquenie won the 200 free in 1:51.99 to set a new all-time best at the Canyonview Aquatics Center. She added another facility record to her list of accomplishments by winning the 500 free in 4:56.55, as SDSU beat crosstown rival UCSD, 207-86 and Hawai'i, 152-144.

Meier, who hails from Walden, N.Y., posted four NCAA zone-qualifying scores over the weekend. On Friday, the junior scored 305.03 on the 3-met er springboard to win the event and qualify for the postseason. She also tallied a mark of 297.98 to lead all divers on the 1-meter springboard. On Saturday, Meier finished second of 13 competitors on the 3-meter board with her score of 289.75. She concluded the weekend posting 272.90 points on the 1-meter to place fourth in a field of 14 divers.