Northern Arizona Swimming and Diving Downs Northern Colorado

Photo Credit: Northern Arizona Athletics

FLAGSTAFF – The Northern Arizona swimming and diving team won nine of 11 events Wednesday afternoon to take down the University of Northern Colorado, 142-93, in Flagstaff. Caitlin Wright and Claire Hammond each won two events to lead the Lumberjacks to their first win of the new year.

Northern Arizona Press Release

The Northern Arizona swimming & diving team proved there’s no place better than home as they cruised to a 142-93 victory over Northern Colorado on Wednesday, winning nine of the 11 scored events. Senior Caitlin Wright and freshman Claire Hammond each won a pair of events as the Lumberjacks won the first five events in a dominating performance in their first dual meet in the Wall Aquatic Center in a month.

“The medley relay set a good tone and then the distance girls did a good job,” said head coach Andy Johns. “This team feeds off of each other in that way. I’m happy with our results and I thought our girls did a good job today. Now we get back into a normal routine with three weeks until we compete in Vegas and I hope we continue to keep getting a little sharper. Everybody adjusts a little differently after we come back from training camp, but overall everyone did better than I expected.”

The medley relay team of junior Lindsay Clark-Warren, sophomore Urte Kazakeviciute, senior Alexis Juergens and freshman Roni Houck got the day started with a win in the 400 medley relay. Juergens and Houck pulled away and negated a quick start by the Bears’ top team in the final two legs as NAU won the event with a time of 4:20.38. The ‘Jacks also placed second in the event as the team started to set the wheels in motion.

Wright pulled off her first victory of the day in the 800 freestyle with a time of 9:19.75, almost 11 seconds faster than freshman Kimmy Richter who finished second. Hammond then followed with a win in the 200 free with a time of 2:10.40 before Houck and redshirt junior Alex Huff went one-two in the 50 free. Houck’s winning time of 26.83 was a little more than half a second off the pool record. To head into the first break of the day, junior Kendall Brown placed first in the 200 individual medley with a winning time of 2:25.36, ahead of freshman Melanie Harris who helped NAU notch its fourth one-two finish in the first five events.

Northern Colorado stopped the NAU streak with a win on the 3-meter springboard, but the Lumberjacks captured the next three spots led by junior Chelsea Jackson with a score of 259.80. Junior Carlye Townsend and freshman Emma Simmonds took the next two spots with Simmonds recording a season-best score of 251.25.

The Lumberjack swimmers got the win back and more in the 200 butterfly with Juergens clocking a time of 2:22.03 to place first followed by Brown and Richter for a top three sweep. Freshman Alina Staffeldt then posted a win in the 100 freestyle with the only sub-1 minute time of 59.86 before the ‘Jacks swept the top three for the second time in three events. In the 200 backstroke, Hammond paced the competition with a time of 2:24.12 and was followed by junior Brooke Brittain and Clark-Warren. Wright then notched her second win of the meet in her final individual race at home with a time of 4:32.10 in the 400 free ahead of junior Eva Pold.

“Today was pretty exciting and the best part was that we had some girls who swam different events than we are used to,” Wright said. “To know we have the depth to do that and still win is exciting. Every senior wants to leave a team better than when they came into it and this team is definitely better than when I came here. But we’re still far from peaking; we have a lot more to go before conference.”

Jackson earned a second runner-up finish on the 1-meter diving boards with a score of 275.55. Although the Bears swept the diving events, the Lumberjacks managed to take the next three spots in both to negate the wins. Junior Alexa Geiger placed third on 1-meter and Simmonds recorded her second season-high score of the day at 250.95. Freshman Alyssa Loeffelman also totaled a season-best 1-meter score at 232.95.

Rounding out the meet, NAU posted the fastest times despite swimming as exhibitions in the last two events. Harris was the first of three Lumberjacks to finish the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:37.56. In the day’s final event, the 200 free relay, NAU’s ‘A’ team raced through the competition with a time of 1:48.71.

All in all, NAU took the top two spots in nine of the 13 events less than a week after wrapping up training camp in Tucson. The meet was the Lumberjacks’ last at home with only a few dates left before they head to San Antonio, Texas to defend their WAC Championship.

“Training camp was hard but we made it through,” Hammond said. “Everyone did great and the attitude was great too. After someone wins an event, everyone is in a good mood. I love where we are right now and it’s exciting. We’re getting ready for conference.”

With the next few weeks off from competition, NAU will next compete in separate meets at the end of the month. The divers will travel to the Air Force Diving Invite from Jan. 29-31 while the swimmers will take on UNLV and Wyoming in a double dual on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.

Northern Colorado Press Release

The Northern Colorado swim and dive team started the new year off taking on a tough conference opponent in Northern Arizona. The Bears would struggle to find their rhythm in the pool dropping the meet 142 to 93.

“The girls did well considering the conditions they’re swimming in,” said head coach Kelly McClanahan. “The girls are coming off 13 two hour practices in 8 days, racing at 7200 feet and short course meters, which adds 14 feet per 25. They are really hanging in to fight for each event. I expect to see better performance at GCU on Friday.”

UNC saw the most success on Wednesday from sophomore Savanna Meadows. Meadows swept the diving competition, against two of the top divers in the conference. Meadows dove a 270.07 in the 3-meter and a 285.37 in the 1-meter. She would win both by 10 points.

“I am incredibly proud of Savanna,” said McClanahan. “She won both her boards against the Top-3 Conference champs. It will be really fun to watch her this year at conference.”

On the swimming side of things the Bears picked up twofirst place finishes on the day.

In the 200 meter breaststroke, UNC captured first and second place with Courtney Chrzas swimming a 2:47.98 and Tara Olson swimming a 2:53.27.

Also on the night, both 200 meter free relays teams for the Bears took first and second place with a time of 1:52.34 and 2:00.67.

The Bears will continue their conference road trip when they face Grand Canyon this Friday, January 9.

For the latest information on the UNC swim and dive team, visit UNCBears.com or follow them on Twitter at @UNCOSwim_Dive.

Results: Northern Colorado vs. Northern Arizona

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