COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Mountain West Conference Swimming & Diving Championships will be held in Oklahoma City, Okla., for the third straight year. Oklahoma City Community College will host the event Feb. 27-Mar. 2.

Two-time defending conference champion BYU leads the eight-team Mountain West field. The Cougars' men's and women's teams captured the 2000 and 2001 MWC Championships and enter this year's event in search of the school's third straight and 12th overall league crown. However, UNLV will look to challenge for the conference crown with the help of three Olympians.

LOCAL INTEREST

Four Mountain West Conference student-athletes have Oklahoma ties. Edmond, Okla., native Andy Kapchinske (Edmond North HS) of UNLV returns to his home state for the 2002 Mountain West Conference Championships. A two-time Academic All-MWC selection, Kapchinske totaled 29 points in last year's conference championship and enters this year's event with the league's 12th best time in the 200-yard backstroke. Colorado State's Dylon Groenewald, of Jenks, Okla. (Northside HS), ranks in the MWC top 25 in the 50- and 100-yard backstroke. UNLV senior David Schick also made his home in Jenks, Okla., graduating from Jenks High School in 1998. An Olympic Trial qualifier in the 1999-2000 season, Schick tallied 53 points in last year's MWC Championships and was the third highest scorer in the 2000 conference championships, winning the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley. Schick holds the MWC's best time this season in the 100 butterfly. Air Force Academy's Rory Peterson, of Ponca City, Okla. (Ponca City, HS), an Academic All-MWC honoree last season, will challenge the field in the 500- and 100-yard freestyle. Peterson currently ranks in the top 20 in both events, including a conference ranking of No. 14 in the 500 free.