Moscow, Idaho – UNC Swimming and Diving competed in their first combined meet of the season against Western Athletic Conference opponent Idaho. The Bears fell to the Vandals, 219-81.
“The girls have had a long weekend, but we still need to perform better than what they did today,” head coach Kelly McClanahan stated. “The girls never gave up on their races or stopped fighting for points, but the energy of the team was not at the level it needed to be.”
Valeria Mihhailova, Leilani Herrera, Laura Ramirez, and Kim Kuni got things going on the swimming side of things, taking second place in the 200 yard medley relay, finishing with a combined time of 1:49.03.
“Once again, Val had an excellent meet. She has proven to be a dependable member of this team.”
In the 1000 yard free, Carleigh Barrett touched the wall in 10:37.57, finishing second in the race for the Bears. Barrett would also finish second in the 200 yard fly, with a time of 2:10.31.
Sydney Kovar finished second individually in the 200 yard free with a time 1:56.71. She took second in the 500 yard free, too, compiling a time of 5:17.68.
Mihhailova took home the only first-place finish for the UNC swimmers, knocking out the 100 yard back in 58.23.
Herrera missed first place in the 100 yard breast by .41 seconds, touching the wall at 1:05.47.
Ramirez took a second place finish for the Bears as well, finishing 59.86. She was one of two swimmers who finished the race in under one minute.
“Today was a decent first meet of the year for the divers,” head diving coach Chelsea Popplewell said. “They struggled a bit but made most of the corrections that I need them to be making right now. I thought today was a good indicator of what we’re good at and what we need to continue to improve on.”
Taylor Walsh led the divers in the first event of the night where she took second place in the 3 meter dive, with a score of 261.38.
Savanna Meadows highlighted the evening for the Bears, finishing first in the 1 meter dive with a score of 267.08, almost an entire 30 points higher than the second-place finisher. Meadows’ score automatically qualifies her for the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships in March – a diver must score 265 or higher on the 1 meter dive to qualify. The Zone Championships then serve as the diving qualifier for the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, held two weeks later.
“Savanna qualifying for NCAA Zones is a huge weight off of her shoulders, so now she can focus on perfecting her lists without quite as much pressure.”
“The final score of the meet by no means reflects the talent level of this team,” McClanahan concluded. “We are going to have to get back in the pool and work on quite a few things mentally and physically so that we can get over these hurdles.”
Next up for the Bears is their home opening meet, Monday, October 19th at 5PM MT, where they’ll host Nebraska-Omaha.
For more information on the Bears this season, check out UNCBears.com visit the official Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter at @UNCOSwim_Dive.
Swimming news courtesy of Northern Colorado Swimming & Diving.