Cowboys sit in third after Day 3 of WAC Championships

* University of Wyoming Athletics media relations release

HOUSTON -- The first two days of the Western Athletic Conference championships saw University of Wyoming sophomore Juan Gonzalez place second in a pair of diving events. He duplicated that performance, once again, Friday at CRWC Natatorium.

Gonzalez took runner-up in platform, compiling a score of 355.85. That score helped the Cowboys position themselves in third place as a team with 444.33 points. UNLV leads having accumulated 562 points.

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“Everyone that could score today, did,” head coach Dave Denniston said. “Again, the majority of the team had personal-records in their events. We will have great energy going into prelims on the final day and are going full throttle in the morning.”

Junior Payton Lee and senior Brendan Byrnes joined Gonzalez in the platform finals. Lee took third with a final tally of 314.95, while Byrnes placed fourth with a score of 309.80.

“Our guys were terrific,” diving head coach Ted Everett said. “Juan and Payton both earned personal bests and Brendan went over the zone qualification score again, so it’s hard to be disappointed in that.”

Senior Grant Sloan led the way in the competition pool. He touched fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke after clocking in at 53.89.

As a team, Wyoming was most represented in the finals of the 100-yard backstroke. Sophomore Max DeYoung finished fifth after recording a time of 48.68, while junior Andrew Rodriguez took seventh with a time of 49.16.

Junior David Mihalic added a fifth-place finish of his own. He clocked in at 3:52.16 in the 400-yard individual medley.

Senior Ryan Netzel rounded out the individuals in finals Friday, taking eighth in the 200-yard freestyle after logging a time of 1:38.77. He also anchored the 400-yard medley relay team – comprised of Rodriguez, Sloan and freshman Gavin Smith – that placed fourth, registering a time of 3:16.09.

Saturday’s action begins with the prelims of the women’s 200-yard backstroke at 9:30 a.m. Men’s finals that will take place Saturday include the 1,650-yard freestyle, the 200-yard backstroke, the 100-yard freestyle, the 200-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard butterfly and the 400-yard freestyle.