The University of Wyoming swimming and diving teams closed out the regular season on a high note Saturday. The Cowboys defeated UNLV 153-145 for the Pokes first win over UNLV since 2005. The Cowgirls defeated the Rebels 181.5-103.3 and defending WAC Champion Northern Arizona 197-80.
“So many people really stepped up today and it was just a great team effort and we came here ready to take care of business,” head coach Tom Johnson said. “It was one of the fastest dual meets I have ever been a part of.”
Junior Ryan Nelson led the Pokes to the win over the Rebels. He won the 1,000 freestyle at 9:30.10. He also added wins in the 500 freestyle at 4:34.33 and the 200 individual medley at 1:51.46. Senior Adam Kalms also had an outstanding day in the water. He led the Pokes’ 400 freestyle relay team win the event, which helped the Pokes take the meet. Kalms won the 200 freestyle at 1:37.91. He also won the 100 freestyle at 44.17.
Freshman Ryan Ball added a win in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:47.80. Junior Kyle Scalise won the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 56.15.
The Cowgirls won 11 of the 14 events. Junior Molly Coonce led the way winning the 100 butterfly at 54.72 and the 200 butterfly at 2:02.15. Junior Emma Dow had a career day winning the 200 breaststroke with a career-best mark of 2:19.79. She also won the 200 individual medley at 2:06.31.
Senior Aliyah Mikulski won the 1,000 freestyle at 10:19.11. Freshman Kelly Sheldon won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:52.24. Sophomore Abby Sullivan won the 200 backstroke with a mark of 57.31. Freshman Maria Harutjunjan touched in at 1:04.15 to win the 100 breaststroke. Junior Emily Ridout won the 50 freestyle at 23.54. Junior Nicole Hlavacek won the 500 freestyle at 5:04.15.
The Cowgirls won the 200 medley relay with the team of senior Jordan Denny, Harutjunjan, Coonce and Ridout with a time of 1:43.90.
“I’m proud of our seniors and today they came to battle and they haven’t quit and helped us finish the season on a high note,” Johnson said.
At the Air Force Diving Invite, Junior Kari Campbell continued her roll finishing eighth on the 3-meter springboard with a mark of 291.90. Sophomore Keely Bishop finished ninth with a tally of 277.70.
On the men’s platform, freshman Ryan Russi finished ninth with a score of 278.80. Fellow freshman Austin Rettinghouse finished 10th with a score of 270.60. No Cowboys qualified for the finals on the 1-meter springboard.
“It was a great experience for us to see where we are going into the championship season,” diving coach Chelsea Popplewell said. “Overall the meet went better than we could have hoped for.”
The Cowgirls return to action Feb. 18-21 at the Mountain West championship in San Antonio, Texas.
The Northern Arizona swimming & diving team completed their regular season on Saturday with a dual meet against the University of Wyoming. The swimmers competed against the Cowgirls, as well as host UNLV in an unscored meet, in Las Vegas while the divers wrapped up competition at the Air Force Diving Invitational. Despite strong efforts in the pool and on the boards, NAU fell to a high quality Wyoming squad .
"Overall it was a good day just to race which we needed to do," said head coach Andy Johns regarding the NAU swimmers. "Both Wyoming and UNLV are very good teams and a little ahead of us in terms of preparation for their championship meet, but we saw some good things. I think we're looking forward to getting ready for the WAC meet."
Freshman Alina Staffeldt will head into next month's WAC Championships with momentum after a pair of individual runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200 butterfly events. Staffeldt was less than half a second from taking first in the 200, as she was edged out by .32 seconds with a second-place time of 2:02.47. She then posted a time of 56.25 in the 100 fly for her second runner-up finish.
Senior Caitlin Wright also took home a second-place finish in the 1,000 freestyle with a season-best time of 10:22.71. Wright was one of two Lumberjacks in the top five of the event with junior Kendall Brown placing fifth with a time of 10:32.58.
Wright teamed with freshman Kimmy Richter for a strong showing in the 500 freestyle as the pair took the third and fourth positions. Richter placed third with a time of 5:06.08, just in front of Wright who clocked a time of 5:06.46. Junior Eva Pold also joined Staffeldt in the top five of the 200 fly with a time of 2:07.28, good for fifth overall.
In the breaststrokes, sophomore Urte Kazakeviciute posted the fastest NAU time of 1:06.53 in the 100 and freshman Melanie Harris was the Lumberjacks' top 200 finisher with a time of 2:24.44. Sophomore Jori Lindquist recorded a time of 58.46 in the 100 backstroke, before posting a season-best time of 53.92 in the 100 free, while junior Lindsay Clark-Warren touched the wall in 2:08.85 in the 200 back.
Junior Monica Pruett placed third head-to-head with Wyoming in the day's final individual event – the 200 IM – with a time of 2:11.93.
In Colorado, the NAU divers finished the Air Force Diving Invitational on a high note with sophomore Alexa Geiger and freshman Emma Simmonds earning praise for their performances. Geiger was NAU's top finisher in 18th during the 3-meter preliminaries with a score of 253.55 with junior Chelsea Jackson one spot behind in 19th with a score of 252.60. Simmonds shot up the leaderboard with her strong day placing 22nd with a score of 245.90.
Freshman Alyssa Loeffelman and junior Carlye Townsend rounded out the Lumberjack divers on Saturday, placing 42nd and 43rd respectively with scores of 199.65 and 198.50.
"Lex dove very well and consistently coming off an injury and Emma dove great and both of them were only a few points out of the finals," said diving coach Nikki Huffman. "I was pleased with all of them but Lex and Emma were the highlights of the day. All in all we were pleased and there are still things we need to work on over the next few weeks (before conference)."
In the dual meet scoring with Wyoming's divers also at Air Force, the Cowgirls claimed the top two spots with Geiger, Jackson and Simmonds taking the final three scoring positions. From Friday's 1-meter competition, Wyoming also held the top two scoring spots with NAU filling out the scoring in three, four and five.
The 'Jacks will now spend the next month preparing for their defense of the WAC Championship before heading off to San Antonio, Texas for the conference meet from Feb. 25-28.
The UNLV men's and women's swimming and diving teams were handed dual meet losses on their Senior Day on Saturday at Buchanan Natatorium. The Rebel women lost by a 200.5-88.5 score, while the Wyoming men posted a 153-145 win.
UNLV fell behind early in the women's meet, as its first win came in the eighth event, the 100 free. Michelle Troup won that event with a time of 51.41, while teammate Julia Fehervari was right behind her at 51.73. The Rebels won the next event as well, the 200 back, as Jessica Wong touched the wall in 2:02.44 for her first place finish.
The only other win for the women was in the final event. The Rebels 400 free relay team of Fehervari, Troup, Elena Gavrilova and Lina Rathsack took first thanks to a time of 3:25.30.
On the men's side, the result was in doubt until the final events, as Wyoming took a 1-2 finish in the 200 IM for an eight-point lead that UNLV could not overcome in the last relay. UNLV started out by winning the first relay, the 200 medley, as Henrique Machado, Boris Kulizhnikov, Dillon Virva and Or Sabatier touched the wall in 1:29.85.
Machado was the next winner for UNLV, taking the 100 back with a time of 49.38. That was followed by Balint Batka in the 200 fly, who posted a winning time of 1:47.87. Virva led a 1-2-4 finish in the 50 free (19.97) that gave UNLV a 72-58 edge. Wyoming tied the meet by winning the next two events, before Kulizhnikov put UNLV ahead after capturing the 200 breast in a time of 2:03.49.
A 1-2-4 finish in the 100 fly, led by Batka's winning time of 40.13, put UNLV ahead by three, but then the Cowboys responded by taking the top two spots in the 200 IM to clinch the win. UNLV did win the final event, the Tom Paco-Pedroni, Samuel Lameynardie, Virva and Forest Beesley out-touched the Wyoming relay by .14 seconds, posting a time of 2:59.22.
UNLV included in the meet results the performances of its divers who competed in the second day of the Air Force Invitational in Colorado Springs. Three Rebels participated in the women's 3-meter event, led by Michele Serra's 26th place score of 233.20. Mykayla Fielding was 30th (226.60) and Taylor Shillingburg 39th (212.50). On the men's platform, Lucas James turned in a career-best score of 280.80 to place eighth overall.
UNLV returns to action on the women's side with the Mountain West Championships, help Feb. 18-21 in San Antonio, Texas. The men will compete in the WAC Championships on Feb. 25-28, also in San Antonio.
