Courtesy of Mike Brohard
HOUSTON – There’s more than one way to win a title.
San Diego State took an alternate path to a record-setting team title this season, capturing the 2026 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship by overtaking the field with a wave of depth across the spectrum to amass 1,367.5 points.
It took until the final individual event of the meet before a lone Aztec claimed a championship when diver Isabella Gomez won the platform with a score of 306.30, securing it with an outstanding final effort of 75.40 off the 10-meter. The team’s only prior win came with the debut of the team diving relay, but the Aztecs’ produced a five-peat to match what BYU did at the creation of the Mountain West, then moving a step further with it’s 10th team championship, breaking the tie with the Cougars.
Diving was a boon for the Aztecs, scoring 375 points in the well during the meet, but they also led the field with 30 ‘A’ finalists in the lanes. Washington State, which won the 400-yard freestyle relay to close the show, was second with 1,102.5 points with UNLV third with 1,083.
The final day of competition opened with Wyoming sophomore Macey Hansen defending her championship in the 1,650-yard freestyle, doing so without a serious challenger at the end. She was neck-and-neck with two others at the 500 mark, but by the time the field of eight had covered 750 yards, Hansen was more than a body length ahead of her closest foe by continually throwing out sub-30.00 splits, allowing her to distance herself even more as she touched in a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 16:16.41, sending her back to the national championships.
Defending a title proved to be difficult during the night, however.
Washington State’s Emily Lundgren gave it a heck of a shot in the 200 breaststroke, with the first-team All-American leading most of the race, only to get touched out by 2025 NCAA runner-up Mackenzie Lung. Now at Fresno State, Lung covered the final 50 in 31.73 to surge past Lundgren by .01 as she hit first in 2:07.03, a Mountain West record. In a fast final heat, seven of the participants beat the NCAA qualifying standard.
The night started in the same fashion as Colorado State’s Tess Whineray broke the Mountain West championship record in the 200 backstroke to dethrone San Diego State’s Abby Strong. Strong was in the lead at the halfway point by a hair, but Whineray took control of the race off that wall and was never challenged with a 1:52.82. Grace Wharton took second at 1:55.32, with Strong third in 1:55.94.
The Cougars’ talented sophomore Darcy Revitt was able defend her 100 freestyle crown, becoming the meet’s second double-event winner (joining Nevada’s Scarlett Ferris) when she went 47.79 to hold off Wyoming’s Tara Joyce. At meet’s end, Revitt and Ferris shared the honor for swimmer of the meet.
Freshman honors went to Nevada’s Moji Pholjamjumrus, while teammate Bailey Heydra was tabbed the diver of the meet. Senior Recognition honors went to Colorado State’s Erin Dawson.
All three individual swimming winners hit the NCAA automatic qualifying standard to advance to the NCAA Championships in Atlanta on March 18-21.
2026 CU1 Mountain West Women’s Swimming & Diving Team Scores
- San Diego State – 1,367.5
- Washington State – 1,102.5
- UNLV – 1,083
- Fresno State – 913
- Nevada – 861.5
- Air Force – 811.5
- Wyoming – 719
- Colorado State – 695.5
- San José State – 559
- Grand Canyon – 488.5
- New Mexico – 279
