As Texas ended its reign of Big 12 swimming & diving on Saturday, the West Virginia Mountaineers showed potential to be the new top program in the coming years.
With 2,092 women’s team points and 1,979 points from the men’s team, the Longhorns won both team championships for the 12th consecutive season. This marks Texas’s 22nd women’s title and ends the 28-year run for the men’s team. In their time in the Big 12, the Longhorns never lost a men’s swimming & diving conference championship.
Mylan Park’s Aquatic Center will likely feel a lasting impact from Texas long after its 2024 departure from the Big 12. After this year’s championships, Texas holds the Aquatic Center record in every major event except for the 1,000-yard freestyle, which was not swum in this year’s tournament.
The Mountaineers have a long way ago to regaining their pool records, but they made the start this year by setting several program records. On day five alone, WVU broke three.
Graduate student Ivan Puskovitch placed second in the men’s 1,650 freestyle with a time of 15:15.34. The swim broke the WVU record by 4.7 seconds despite being 16.63 seconds slower than Texas first-place finisher Alec Enyeart.
The men’s 400 freestyle relay team also set a team record with a time of 2:53.95 despite finishing fourth of five in the event. The relay team comprised of seniors Danny Berlitz and Roanoke Shirk along with juniors Braden Osborn and Conner McBeth.
Perhaps the most promising record-breaking performance on Saturday, though, was that of Mia Cheatwood in the women’s 200 breaststroke. Cheatwood, a sophomore, broke her own record set in Tuesday’s time trials in 2:09.13.
Cheatwood placed third in the Big 12 Championships, capping off a spectacular week featuring three individual finals appearances. She paired the new team record with her record-breaking performance in Friday’s 100 breaststroke prelims, where she completed the event in 1:00.08.
Fellow sophomores Ada Szwabinska and Gabriela Martin De La Torre accompany Cheatwood in a young core of women’s swimmers. Neither swimmer made finals during the tournament but all have shown signs of promising futures at WVU.
WVU is not without strong upperclassmen on the women’s team, though. Of the two Mountaineers not named Mia Cheatwood to make finals in women’s events this week, one was senior diver Sara Haggerty in Friday’s platform finals, and one was junior Miranda Kirtley on Saturday.
Kirtley placed fifth in the women’s 1,650 freestyle on Saturday with a time of 16:41.93. Kirtley shaved off 17.64 seconds from her prelim time but was still 5.04 seconds short of her personal best. Regardless, Kirtley’s showing in distance swimming bodes well for the near future of WVU Swimming & Diving.
Also showing future potential on Saturday was the men’s diving team. Freshman Owen Recker scored 336.9 points and placed seventh in the men’s platform finals, followed closely by junior Glenn Eloriaga in eighth with 334.8 points.
Rounding out Saturday’s finalists for West Virginia were senior Justin Heimes, who took his second fourth-place finish in backstroke, completing the 200 in 1:44.64, Berlitz, who was disqualified in the 200 breaststroke for improper kick form, and the women’s 400 freestyle relay team, which placed eighth.
Texas won all but one of Saturday’s 12 events, with the other going to Kansas diver Shiyun Lai in the women’s 3m. Lai joined BYU’s Brad Prolo and Jordan Tiffany and WVU’s Berlitz as the only non-Longhorns to place first in an event this week.
Which Mountaineers, if any, will compete in the NCAA Championships on March 20 remains unknown until the conclusion of the NCAA Last Chance Meet in Morgantown on March 3. Events begin at 10 a.m. EST at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.
Final Big 12 Championship Team Standings
Women’s Team Standings
1. Texas – 2,092
2. Houston – 1,266.5
3. TCU – 1,215.5
4. Cincinnati – 918.5
5. BYU – 771.5
6. WVU – 699
7. Kansas – 647.5
8. Iowa State – 529
Men’s Team Standings
1. Texas – 1,979
2. TCU – 1,430
3. BYU – 1,402
4. Cincinnati – 1,285.5
5. West Virginia – 1,138.5
