Women's Swimming and Diving team captures three MW postseason awards

The San Diego State swim and dive program received continued acclaim for another highly successful campaign from the Mountain West on Tuesday, as Alex Roberts earned MW Swimmer of the Year honors, while Mike Shrader garnered MW Swim Coach of the Year laurels and Roland McDonald merited MW Dive Coach of the Year plaudits. The announcement was made Tuesday by the conference office.

With her accolade, Roberts collected her second straight conference postseason award and gave the Aztecs their fifth consecutive MW Swimmer of the Year honoree after Klara Thormalm received such distinction in three consecutive seasons from 2020-22.

Shrader, who is completing his 17th season at the helm of the Aztecs, was recognized as the Mountain West's top swim coach for the third year in a row and 10th time since his arrival on The Mesa prior to the 2007-08 campaign.
Additionally, McDonald was selected as the MW's top dive coach for the third time in his 14 seasons at San Diego State after earning the honor in 2019 and 2020.  

A native of Visalia, California, Roberts garnered five all-conference accolades at the 2024 Mountain West Championships, highlighted by a gold-medal winning performance in the 200 backstroke while contributing to SDSU's victorious 200 and 400 medley relay teams. The Aztec senior also took home silver medals in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly.

At the NCAA Championships, Roberts finished 19th in the preliminaries of the 200 back after touching the wall with a career-fast time of 1:52.76, eclipsing her own program and conference standard of 1:52.89 set at the 2023 Mountain West Championships.

In addition, Roberts' 19th-place performance marked the highest finish of the seven MW student-athletes competing at this year's national meet and represented SDSU's best placement since 2022 when Thormalm finished 15th overall in the 100 breaststroke.

Additionally, Roberts logged a career-fast swim in the 100 back at the MW meet after touching the wall at 51.95, which ranks second in school history.

Not to be outdone, Roberts also established a personal-best in the 100 fly at the conference Championships after completing the race at 52.96, which was good for fourth on the program's all-time charts.

Under Shrader's tutelage, SDSU captured its fifth Mountain West championship in the last six years and eighth overall since 2011 after compiling a 1,487.50 team points at the 2024 MW meet, held Feb. 21-24, in Houston Texas.

In all, Shrader's charges captured seven individual gold medals and won four of five relay events at the conference championships, earning a league-high 56 all-Mountain West honors.

Along with sending at least one individual to the NCAA Championships for the 15th time in program history, Shrader led the Aztecs to their ninth undefeated dual-meet ledger in the last 10 seasons, with the Scarlet and Black posting a 15-0 record during the 2023-24 campaign. As a result, SDSU has extended its victory streak to 65 consecutive dual meets since Jan. 8, 2018, a span of over six years.

Shrader coached one additional NCAA participant this season in Christiana Williams, who qualified for the national meet in the 200 breaststroke. Williams was also selected to compete in the 100 breaststroke based on er NCAA "B" Cut times throughout the season.

Meanwhile, McDonald oversaw the success of the Aztec diving contingent, as all seven competitors qualified for at least one event at the NCAA Zone E Championships.

Under McDonald's direction, Valentina Lopez Arevalo garnered MW Diver of the Meet accolades at the conference championships after winning gold medals in 3-meter springboard and platform competition while earning a silver medal on the 1-meter springboard.

At the MW meet, Lopez Arevalo recorded career-high scores on the 1-meter (328.70) and 3-meter (374.20) boards, both of which rank second in program history. In addition, the Aztec junior successfully defended her conference crown from the platform height, compiling a season-best total of 340.70 points.

During the 2023-24 campaign, Lopez Arevalo earned four Mountain West Diver of the Week honors, while Alina Skrocki received MW Freshman of the Week distinction on one occasion.

Thanks to McDonald's guidance, Sunmer Westmoreland also merited all-MW recognition with a trio of top-eight finishes in all three events at this year's league meet, setting career-best marks in 3-meter (8th, 296.25) and platform competition (6th, 251.80), the latter of which ranks seventh on the program's all-time charts. The SDSU junior also totaled a season-best 296.50 points on the 1-meter board en route to a sixth-place standing.