ST. GEORGE, Utah – The New Mexico State swimming team got off to a solid start with two top-four relay finishes on day one of Western Athletic Conference Swimming Championships at the Human Performance Center in St. George, Utah, on Wednesday night.  
 
"Tonight was a lot of fun and our team had some great efforts," said head coach Rick Pratt. "Those were both events we have not done since last year's WAC, and I think considering that, it was a great start. During the 200 Medley relay, Maude Boily-Dufour had the fastest 50 back in program history and our first three legs of the 800 free relay were all personal bests.  There's 20 events left, and I'm excited to see what's in store."
 
The Aggies competed in the 200 Medley relay and the 800 Free relay to open WAC Championships. In the first even of the day, the 200 Medley relay, the Aggie squad of Maude Boily-Dufour, Skylar Welle, Lindsay Puhalski and Neza Kocijan went neck-and-neck with GCU, NAU and Northern Colorado. The Aggie finished in fourth-place with a time of 1:41.99 in an extremely close race that saw first place and fourth place separated by just seven-tenths of a second. Grand Canyon finished in first (1:41.29) followed by Northern Colorado (1:41.48) and NAU (1:41.95).
 
The final race of the day, the 800 Free Relay was another close race. After Idaho pulled out in front early, NM State and NAU pulled away from the pack. The two squads stayed out in front of the pack with the Aggie relay team of Puhalski, Kocijan, Airam Oliva-Aun and Aimee Burton finishing second with a time of 7:25.34.
 
Aggie swimmers will be back in action tomorrow, Feb. 18, with preliminary action beginning at 11 a.m. (MT) and finals taking place at 6 p.m. Aggie fans can stream prelims live on WAC Digital or on Facebook Live, provided by the WAC. Finals are set to broadcast live on ESPN+.

 
WAC Swimming Championships Schedule
 
Thursday, Feb. 18
Prelims, 11 a.m.
Finals, 6 p.m.
500 freestyle
200 individual medley
50 freestyle
200 free relay
 
Friday, Feb. 19
Prelims, 11 a.m.
Finals, 6 p.m.
400 individual medley
100 butterfly
200 freestyle
100 breaststroke
100 backstroke
400 medley relay
 
Saturday, Feb. 20
Prelims, 11 a.m.
Finals, 6 p.m.
200 backstroke
100 freestyle
200 breaststroke
200 butterfly
1650 free
400 free relay
 
WAC Diving Championships Schedule
Thursday, Feb. 25
3-meter
 
Friday, Feb. 26
1-meter
 
Saturday, Feb. 27
Platform