Feb. 16, 2016
San Jose, Calif. --- The San Jose State Spartans women's swimming and diving team are geared up for the four-day Mountain West Championships in College Station, Texas, kicking off Wednesday.
"This team is ready to go and chomping at the bit to start competing tomorrow." Spartans' head coach Sage Hopkins said. "I am so proud of what this group has accomplished both academically and athletically, and can't wait to see what they do."
San José State is led by senior captain and distance swimmer Riley Spitser, who has 20 individual wins this season heading into the championship weekend. Tallying nine wins the 500-yard freestyle, Spitser has collected wins over conference opponents Fresno State, Nevada and San Diego State.
Spitser holds the third-fastest time in the Mountain West this season in the 500-yard freestyle relay, posting a NCAA Standard B provisional mark of 4:46.64 at the A3 Performance Invitational in November. In the 1650-yard freestyle, Spitser clocked the third best time in the Mountain West with time of 16:39.07 for a win at the A3 Invitational.
Holding the third-best Mountain West times in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke, sophomore Colleen Humel collected NCAA 'B' cut times in both events.
Ranked sixth in the 100-yard butterfly in the Mountain West, sophomore Brenna Bushey's season best time of 54.64 was shy of the NCAA 'B' cut by .15 seconds. Freshman Marley Maluafiti is 10th in the conference in the 200-yard butterfly, hold the Spartans' top time in the event this season.
Leading the Spartans in diving at the championships is sophomore Cari Reiswig. In the conference diving standings, Reiswig is fifth in the 1-meter springboard and sixth in both the 3-meter springboard and the platform dive. Reiswig's top dive scores in the 1-meter and the 3- meter has qualified her for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Heading into championship weekend, San Jose State was picked to finish eighth out of the 10 Mountain West squads in the pre-championship coaches' poll. Tied for the top spot in the poll with 73 points are Boise State and Nevada followed by San Diego State in third. All three team each received three first place votes.
"Boise State and Nevada are clearly the top two teams with San Diego State and Wyoming battling for the 3-4 spot," Hopkins said. "The fifth through the ninth spots will be a dogfight."
The Spartans who hold a dual record of 7-3 only received 28 total points from the ballots of the 10 coaches.
"I'll let our swimming and diving over the next four days speak to that," Hopkins said about San Jose State pre-championship rankings.
The Mountain West Championships begin on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. (CT) with the 1-meter springboard preliminaries and will conclude on Saturday, February 20. Each day will begin with preliminary heats in the morning, followed by finals sessions at 6:30 p.m. (CT) and will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network.
San Jose State seniors Spitser, Brynne Beneke, Natasha Moffitt, Amanda Buxbaum and Alli Davis will be honored along with seniors from across the conference before the finals session Saturday's at the annual Senior Recognition Ceremony.
2016 MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING
PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP COACHES' POLL
| Rank | Team (1st place votes) | Points |
| 1. | Boise State (3) | 73 |
| Nevada (3) | 73 | |
| 3. | San Diego State (3) | 70 |
| 4. | Wyoming (1) | 60 |
| 5. | UNLV | 43 |
| 6. | Air Force | 35 |
| 7. | New Mexico | 31 |
| 8. | San Jose State | 28 |
| 9. | Fresno State | 24 |
| 10. | Colorado State | 13 |