South Dakota State, Northern Colorado vs. Northern Iowa

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa, November 10. THE University of Northern Iowa women's swimming team hosted a twin double-dual meet Saturday afternoon against South Dakota State and Northern Colorado. At 9 a.m. the swimmers raced a normal meet schedule, and concluded the day at 2 p.m. with an all-relay style meet.

The Panthers went 2-2 on the day, defeating South Dakota State, 188-91 in the morning and 218-100 in the afternoon, while being defeated by Northern Colorado, 177-116 in the morning and 190-184 in the afternoon.

During the normal meet schedule at 9 a.m., the Panthers won four events.

Sophomore Amanda Firman (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls) was the only double-champion for the Panthers in the morning session. Firman won the 50-free event in a time of 25.38, finishing just ahead of teammate Maggie Rickert (Hudson, Iowa/Cedar Falls) who finished in 25.61.

Firman collected two second place finishes on the day as well, in the 100-free and as a piece of the 200 medley relay squad.

Along with Firman and Rickert, Maegan Miller (Olathe, Kan./East) and Abby Girard (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls) helped the Panthers pick up first-place points in the 200-free relay event. The team won in a time of 1:40.90, eclipsing the Panthers previous season-best 200-free relay time of 1:42.87, set against Kansas in October.

In the 1000 free event, junior Melissa Little (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) crushed the field by more then seven seconds, finishing with a season-best time of 10:52.23. Teammate Kelly McCullough (Spencer, Iowa/Spencer) finished third in the event with a time of 11:02.85.

Freshman Caitlin Krengel (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) was also crowned a champion in the 100-breast Saturday. Krengel swam the event in 1:10.30, setting her new best time of the season in the event. Teammate Andrea Grandcolas (St. Louis, Mo./Wentzville) helped the Panthers finish first and second in this event with a time of 1:11.90.

In the backstroke events, the combination of Girard and Abby Moes (Sioux City, Iowa/East) gained very valuable points for the Panthers. Girard finished second in both individual backstroke events, while Moes finished third in both events.

At 2 p.m. all three teams once again took to the pool to compete in an all-relay meet. The Panthers won three of the 12 events, and finished only six points behind first-place, Northern Colorado.

The Panthers dominated the 500-yard freestyle relay event. Freshman Josie Itzen (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls) and April Mangrich (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Jefferson) along with sophomores Rickert and Kelly Mateas (Winfield, Ill./Community) teamed up to win the relay in a time of 4:55.96, more then three seconds ahead of another Panther team made up of Alexa Armstrong (Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead), Jamie Keefer (Spencer, Iowa/Spencer), Katie Maloy (Auburn, Ind./R. Nelson Snider) and Melissa Little. This second Panther team finished in a time of 4:59.55, completing a one-two finish in this event for UNI.

The swimmers will be in action this weekend starting Thursday, Nov. 15 when they travel to Lincoln, Nebraska for the Nebraska Invitational. This meet runs all weekend, concluding on Sunday, Nov. 18.

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