NAU overcame Northern Colorado on the road this weekend, finishing with a 214-86 score. NAU sophomore Alina Staffeldt put on a dominating show, winning 3 events. She posted a 2:08.78 in the 200 fly, a 54.34 in the 100 freestyle, and a 26.28 in the 50 fly.
Northern Colorado:
GREELEY, Colo. – UNC Swimming & Diving finished 1-1 at home this weekend, dropping its meet against Northern Arizona on Saturday afternoon, 214-86 following a 164.5-97.5 win over Colorado School of Mines Friday night.
Overall, the Bears had two first place finishes, five second place finishes, and finished third in seven total events in Saturday’s meet.
“I thought the team did really well today,” head coach Kelly McClanahan said. “I thought they swam a lot like they did at New Mexico where they swam with more confidence than they usually do against a team of this caliber. I told them last night that they just have to swim their own races, swim with confidence, and stay within their own lanes and their own heads and I felt they did that today.
Northern Colorado got the meet going with a 4:03.66 combined time for the 400 yard medley team of Valeria Mihhailova, Courtney Chrzas, Laura Ramirez, and Sydney Kimura. The time would have them finishing second in the race.
Sydney Kovar picked up another Bear second place finish in the 200 yard freestyle, touching the wall at 1:58.09.
One of two UNC first-finishes came in the third event (50 yard backstroke), when Mihhailova edged out an NAU swimmer to finish in 27.96.
Ramirez finished second individually in the 200 yard butterfly, posting a time of 2:12.60. She would also pick up second place in the 50 yard butterfly, touching the wall at 27.32.
To close out the meet, the Bear team of Kovar, Kim Kuni, Karlie O’Connell, and Mihhailova picked up first in the 200 yard freestyle relay, beating out the NAU team by one hundredth of a second (1:39.70 to 1:39.71).
“Jenny Brown had a fantastic mile; her pace was fantastic and she swam with a lot of confidence. Courtney Chrzas‘ 100 breast split on the medley relay was the best she’s had all year, and then Val’s 50 backstroke in the 200 medley relay at the end was probably the highlight of the meet. She had a slow exchange to anchor the relay, but she ended it really well. That just shows that they’re going to fight for it and that’s what I need them to be doing right now is fighting for every point in every race.”
The divers fared similarly in the 1M and 3M, with Savanna Meadows earning a season high 270.37 points on the 1M for second place, and Taylor Walsh earning 249.38 on the 3M for a third place finish.
“Overall it was a pretty good meet,” diving coach Chelsea Popplewell said. “We’re still seeing changes that I need to be seeing, but now is when those changes need to be very evident and more consistent everyday. They’ll get to the point where they’re competitive, but right now it’s still the little things that we have to keep chipping away at.”
The Bears will split the team next weekend with the divers heading to Tucson, Arizona for the Wildcat Invite [Nov. 20-22], and the swimmers going to Houston, Texas for the Phil Hansel Invite [Nov. 19-21].
For more information on the Bears this season, check out UNCBears.com, visit the official Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter at @UNCOSwim_Dive.
NAU:
GREELEY, Colo. – The Northern Arizona swimming & diving team was nothing short of dominant in cruising past Northern Colorado, 214-86, on Saturday to cap a 2-1 dual record on their first road trip of the season. Sophomore Alina Staffeldt won three events, and seniors Kendall Brown and Chelsea Jackson and junior Urte Kazakeviciute all won two events a piece as the Lumberjacks posted 14 event wins out of 16. With the win, NAU remained perfect all-time in dual meets versus Northern Colorado in 11 all-time meetings.
“We won the medley relay, Kendall and Kimmy (Richter) went one-two in the mile and Claire (Hammond) won the 200 free and we started out on a nice roll,” said head coach Andy Johns. “Urte then wins the 50 breaststroke, Alina wins the 200 fly and Roni (Houck) and Ila (Hughes) go one-two in the 50 free and we’re off. There were a lot of wins from a lot of different people and the divers did a great job once again today.
Staffeldt led the Lumberjacks with wins in the both butterfly events – the 50 and the 200 – as well as the 100 freestyle. In her first win of the day, she posted a time of 2:08.78 in the 200 fly, then won the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.34. Her final win of the day came in the 50 fly with a time of 26.28.
Brown posted victories in two grueling events, first winning the mile with a time of 17:34.43 and also claiming the victory in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:38.72. Kazakeviciute swept the breaststroke events with winning times of 30.96 in the 50 and 2:25.46 in the 200. Meanwhile on the diving boards, Jackson posted the top scores to sweep both diving events. Jackson won the 3-meter competition with a score of 270.91 and 1-meter with a score of 279.98.
Among NAU’s other winners were sophomore Claire Hammond in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:57.77, sophomore Roni Houck in the 50 free with a time of 24.85 and junior Jori Lindquist in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:10.57. Sophomore Kimmy Richter clocked a dominating time of 5:10.51 to win the 500 free to round out NAU’s individual winners.
NAU also posted a winning time of 3:56.07 in the 400 medley relay to pen the day. Lindquist, Kazakeviciute, Staffeldt and Houck comprised the Lumberjacks’ winning relay team.
The Lumberjacks were mere tenths of seconds – and even closer – from sweeping the entire meet. In Northern Colorado’s lone individual event win, Lindquist was edged out in the 50 back by .43 seconds and the Bears squeaked by in the day’s final relay – the 200 free relay – by .01 seconds.
The Lumberjacks went one-two in seven events and also completed one-two-three finishes in two events. In the 100 free, Staffeldt, Houck and junior Hayley Edmond captured the top three spots. Lindquist immediately followed with her win in the 200 back and was backed by seniors Trinity Frazee and Brittain for a second straight top three sweep.
Behind Jackson on the diving boards, junior Alexa Geiger finished runner-up with a score of 262.88. Freshman Raquel Gonzales placed fourth with a score of 233.03. On 1-meter, Geiger (269.48) and Gonzales (229.02) placed third and fourth respectively.
“To Northern Colorado’s credit, their lineup has been hit by injuries and some of their best swimmers weren’t competing today,” Johns said. “Our girls stepped up and it was a nice way to come back from yesterday’s racing and be competitive.”
NAU’s divers will compete next week in Tucson, Ariz. in the three-day Wildcat Diving Invitational, including their first appearance on platform this season. The Lumberjack swimmers will be off until the team rejoins for a dual meet at New Mexico State on Dec. 5.
Swimming news courtesy of Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona Swimming & Diving.