Northern Arizona, Air Force Academy Win Western Athletic Conference Team Titles

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Photo Courtesy: Air Force Athletics

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Northern Arizona University won the women’s team championship and the U.S. Air Force Academy the men’s at the Western Athletic Conference Swimming Championships Feb. 22-25 in Houston.

NAU scored 615.5 points, pulling away from runner-up New Mexico State. NMSU edged out Idaho for second, 551 to 544, and Grand Canyon barely beat out the University of North Dakota (509 to 507).

In the men’s meet, Air Force beat out Wyoming by 40.5 points, 794.5 to 754, while Grand Canyon (563), University of Nevada-Las Vegas (525.5) and the University of North Dakota (357) rounded out the top five.

Women’s meet:

Seattle University’s Blaise Wittenauer-Lee finished first in the 200 IM in 1:59.95, but that was only a prelude to what she would accomplish in the breaststrokes. She posted a conference record-time of 1:00.52 in the 100 breast and a day later blasted a 2:09.85 in the 200 breast to become the first WAC swimmer to break the 2:10-barrier.

Grand Canyon’s Estela Davis Ortiz did not compete in any individual events until the third day of the meet, but she still finished with three victories. Davis Ortiz captured the 400 IM in 4:16.38, the 100 back in 53.74 and the 200 back in 1:55.90. Her teammate Samiha Mohsen also became a WAC champion on the weekend, winning the 50 free in 23.05.

CSU Bakersfield’s Paola Hernandez won the 200 free in 1:48.15 and then was the only swimmer to break 50 seconds in the 100 free, posting a time of 49.94. In the butterfly events, NAU’s Alina Staffeldt won both the 100 (54.06) and the 200 (1:59.30). Staffeldt’s teammate Kimmy Richter finished first in both the 500 free (4:51.24) and 1650 free (16:49.31).

NAU also captured a relay win in the 800 free relay as Claire Hammond, Richter, Kate Bier and Staffeldt combined to finish in 7:20.31. Three different NAU divers all picked up victories: Alexa Geiger on the 1-meter board (276.95), Tonya Kurach in the 3-meter event (304.50) and Raquel Gonzales on the platform (227.40).

North Dakota swept the remaining four relays on the schedule. Maddie DerbySteph FreyKatie Breault and Emily Hamel finished first in the 200 medley relay in 1:40.51, while Frey, Anna AndersenAlli Schwab and Hamel won the 200 free relay in 1:32.51. Jess Warfield, Frey, Breault and Marlena Pigliacampi comprised the winning 400 medley relay (3:42.54), and then in the final women’s event of the meet, Andersen, Frey, Megan Wenman and Pigliacampi finished the 400 free relay in 3:22.07.

 

Men’s meet:

Grand Canyon’s Mark Nikolaev was the top individual performer of the meet, setting conference records on his way to victories in the 200 IM, where he finished in 1:44.15, and in both backstroke events. He clocked 45.11 in the 100-yard distance and 1:42.00 in the 200 back.

Also winning two events at the meet were UNLV’s Tom Paco-Pedroni, who swept the 200 free (1:34.32) and 100 free (42.85), and Nikolaev’s Grand Canyon teammate Daniil Antipov, who set a conference record of 46.20 in the 100 fly and took the 200 fly in 1:43.03. Pietro Hufnagel Toscani, also from TCU, finished atop the leaderboard in both 1-meter (306.60) and 3-meter diving (351.35).

The team champion Air Force Academy got wins from Andrew Faciszewski in the 500 free (4:23.62) and from Zach Knoche (53.17). The Falcons also won both medley relays as Devon Davis, Knoche, Steffen Mount and Jordan Dahle clocked 1:26.67 in the 200 medley relay and 3:10.04 in the 400-yard distance.

Grand Canyon’s team of Jacob LambrosWiktor Jaszczak, Nikolaev and Antipov won the 800 free relay in 6:24.51, while UNLV’s Or SabatierKasey FoleyDylan Tarazona and Paco-Pedroni won the 200 free relay in 1:17.55. Sabatier, Forrest Beesley, Foley and Paco-Pedroni won the 400 free rleya in a meet record-time of 2:52.53. Foley also picked up a victory of his own, touching first in the 50 free in 19.48.

Other winners included Wyoming’s Wade Nelson in the 400 IM (3:45.40) and his teammates Gabriel Rooker in the 200 breast (1:56.35) and Scotia Mullin in platform diving (423.85). North Dakota’s Jacob Wielinski finished first in the 1650 free, narrowly cracking the 15-minute mark with his time of 14:59.09.

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Thomas A. Small
7 years ago

Congratulations

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