Nov. 3, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -

UNLV junior Kier Maitland and BYU sophomore Brandon Watson have been named Mountain West Conference Men's Swimmer and Diver of the Week, while BYU seniors Natasha Menezes and Tawni Jones earned women's swimming and diving honors, respectively.

Maitland, from Edmonton, Alberta, swept the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle events at BYU and Utah last week. On Friday, the junior won the 500 free in a time of 4:32.37, before setting a new BYU pool record in the 1000 free with a winning time of 9:19.91. Maitland followed suit at Utah on Saturday by placing first in both the 500 free (4:35.81) and the 1000 free (9:37.86).

Watson, a native of Riverton, Utah, captured wins in both springboard events in a duel meet vs. Arizona State, as the Cougars defeated the Sun Devils, 154-88. The sophomore collected a score of 364.88 in the 3-meter springboard, and posted a 353.25 mark on the 1-meter board.

Menezes, who hails from Centennial, Colo., broke the BYU pool record in the 500-yard freestyle by finishing first in a time of 4:55.46. The previous record of 4:56.87, which was held by her mother, Melanie Rile-Menezes, stood for 27 years before broken by the current senior. She also broke the pool record in the 200 free with a time of 1:50.57 to finish first. Menezes, who also swept the 500 (5:04.31) and 1000 (10:17.07) free events against Arizona State on Saturday, swam on the Cougars' 400-yard freestyle relay teams that took first place in both meets with times of 3:28.14 and 3:27.64, respectively.

Jones, a product of Mesa, Ariz., earned back-to-back 3-meter springboard titles in the Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 meets vs. UNLV and Arizona State, scoring 320.70 and 303.90, respectively. She also placed first at both meets in the 1-meter springboard by scoring 282.38 vs. the Rebels and 292.88 vs. the Sun Devils.

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