PUEBLO, Colo. (February 12, 2019) – Colorado State University-Pueblo Swimming & Diving will compete at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships from Wednesday Feb. 13 through Saturday Feb. 17 in Lewisville, Texas.
2019 RMAC Championships Meet Central
The ThunderWolves were picked to finish sixth in the RMAC at the beginning of the season. They are hoping to beat this prediction and qualify a couple student-athletes for the NCAA meet,
CSU- Pueblo has set 11 school records at previous RMAC Championships. The ThunderWolves have also posted 59 of the top five times in program history at the RMAC Championships.
Arianna Rohde (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) set two school records at last year's RMAC Championships. She finished seventh in the 200 Fly (2:09.30) last year, the Pack's highest individual finish at the event. Rohde also set a record in the 100 Fly (57.91). She scored 20 individual points at the event.
Phoebe Pontious (Jr., Caledonia, Mich.) set the Pack's record in the 50 Free at the 2018 RMAC Championships. She has since broken her record time of 24.74 with a 24.58 at the A3 Performance Invite in November.
Natalie Rotondo (Fr., Aurora, Colo.) broke Rohde's 100 Fly record earlier this year with a 57.61 at the A3 Performance Invite. Rotondo also holds the Pack's record in the 200 Back (2:06.00). She will look to make a splash in her first RMAC Championships.
April McDonough (Sr., Frisco, Texas) returns to the RMAC Championship after a year away from the pool. McDonough holds the Pack's records in the 200 Free (1:55.90), 500 Free (5:09.24), and 1000 Free (10:35.33). She had three top-10 finishes at the RMAC Championships in 2017. In the 2015 RMAC Championships, McDonough finished fourth in the 500 free, her highest finish ever at a RMAC Championship.
Julia Whitfield (Fr., Wichita, Kan.) set the Pack's record in the 100 Free. Her school-record time of 53.54 came at the A3 Performance Invite.
McDonough, Pontious, Rotondo, and Whitfield have combined to set school records in the 200 Free (1:38.34), 400 Free (3:39.56), 800 Free Relay (8:04.66). They will each need to shave a second off their split to post a B cut time in the 200 free relay.
Senior
Jade Irick (Idaho Falls, Idaho) and
Madison Ortega (Fr., Pueblo West, Colo.) will represent the Pack in the diving competitions. Oretga became the Pack's first RMAC Diver of the Week earlier this season. She has now won the award twice. In her first season on the boards, Irick continues to show improvement and looks to make an impact in her final meet.
There will be two sessions with prelims in the morning and finals each day. To keep up with the Pack at the RMAC Championships, visit the
Meet Central Page.
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics