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Arizona Women Sweep NMSU, NAU, Oregon State

Arizona women's swimming and diving rang in the New Year with a sweep of a quad-dual meet with Oregon State, New Mexico State and NAU on a chilly Friday afternoon at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.

Arizona defeated Oregon State (196-76), NAU (195-96) and New Mexico State (198-93).

The team of Katrina Konopka, Emma Schoettmer, Taylor Garcia and Annie Ochitwa kicked off the day with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:42.09). Cameron McHugh, Mackenzie Rumrill, Paige Kremer and Taylor Schick followed with a time of 1:43.99.

Emma McCarthy then took second in the 1,650 free with 17:10.38 while Claire Lockridge finished fourth with 17:18.77.

In the 200 free, the Cats went 1-2-3-4. Sarah Shimomura won with a time of 1:50.26. Jenna Bauer placed second (1:52.30) followed by Ochitwa (1:52.34) and Konopka (1:53.50).

Garcia then earned a first-place finish in the 100 back with 55.21. McHugh took second (56.19) while Schick took third (56.63). Later, Garcia also finished first in the 100 fly with 56.11, while Rumrill placed second with 56.88.

In the 100 breast, Schoettmer won with 1:04.28 followed by Sara Borendame with 1:04.71. The same pair went 1-2 in the 200 breast with times of 2:17.60 and 2:19.56, respectively. Mik Ranslem also took fourth in the 200 breast with 2:22.57.

Arizona went 1-2-3-4 in the 200 fly as Ranslem took first, touching in 2:02.95, while Daniela Georges followed with 2:03.64. Karli Thuen finished third (2:05.00) and Sam Getzen was one-hundredth of a second behind.

In the 50 free, Ochitwa and Kremer tied for first place with a time of 23.48. Ali Powell finished third (23.93) followed by Ashley Sutherland (24.12).  

Kremer then won the 100 free (50.93) followed by Schick (50.97), Konopka (51.45) and Sutherland (52.19). The Cats then went 1-2-3 in the 200 back. McHugh took first with a time of 2:00.82, Georges placed second with 2:02.42 and Bauer third with 2:03.96.

In the 500 free, Shimomura earned a first-place finish (4:55.73) followed by Thuen (5:02.12). Getzen also placed fourth in the event with 5:08.45.

The last two events of the meet were exhibitioned, and Arizona went 1-2-3-4 in the 200 IM as Ranslem finished with 2:05.38 and Bauer touched in 2:06.81. Thuen had a time of 2:07.84, while Alexandra Martelle came in at 2:09.41.

The team of Rumrill, Kremer, Ochitwa and Schick closed out the day with a victory in the 200 free relay (1:33.58). Garcia, Sutherland, Getzen and Shimomura came in second with 1:35.26. However, the finishes did not count towards the final score.

In diving, Sally Hackett finished first in the 3-meter with a score of 302.10, while Karolyn Loftus took fifth with 253.65. Hackett also would have taken third in the 1-meter (259.80) and Kaitlin Costello fourth (254.18), as the divers were exhibitioned.

Arizona swimming and diving heads to Berkley to face California on Fri. Jan. 22nd at 3:00 p.m. MST.

 

Northern Arizona

Flagstaff may be covered from this week’s snow storm, but the Northern Arizona swimming & diving team was hot enough to melt it instantly with their performance in Tucson on Friday. The Lumberjacks used a complete team effort to crush Oregon State, 198.5-94.5, and earn their second all-time win versus the Pac-12 Beavers. NAU also faced No. 7 Arizona and came away with a 195-96 defeat to its nationally-ranked neighbor to the south.
 
“I thought it was going to be tighter in some spots, but we showed up today and we were a little sharper,” said head coach Andy Johns. “We were able to put it to (Oregon State). We were really solid all the way around versus Oregon State and against Arizona our divers really shined. In less than ideal conditions, our girls showed a lot of toughness and spirit and we’re happy to come away with a split today against two Pac-12 teams.”
 
Competing outdoors at UA’s Hillenbrand Aquatic Center with temperatures in the 40s with rain, the Lumberjacks won 13 of 16 events head-to-head versus the Beavers. Junior Hayley Edmond had her hand in four event wins – winning both backstrokes and swimming on both relay teams – while sophomore Alina Staffeldt won three individual events as well as the first relay of the day.
 
Even without the diving scores – Oregon State does not have divers on its roster due to its own facility limitations – NAU still held the commanding edge in swimming points by 72. In the Lumberjacks’ only other win versus the Beavers in 2011, they used their diving edge to come away with a 160-133 victory.
 
The Lumberjacks got the day going with a third-place overall finish in the 200 medley relay with Edmond, junior Urte Kazakeviciute, Staffeldt and sophomore Roni Houck posting a time of 1:47.84. NAU finished behind Arizona’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams, but won the head-to-head against Oregon State to set the tone for the remainder of the meet.
 
NAU claimed the top two spots in its dual meet versus Oregon State in five events, including a one-two-three finish in three of those. Edmond led the Lumberjack dominance in both backstroke events posting winning times of 59.45 in the 100 and 2:07.03 in the 200. She was followed by junior Jori Lindquist and senior Brooke Brittain in the 100 and sophomore Claire Hammond in Lindquist in the 200 to complete a one-two-three showing in both. NAU also took the top three spots in the 200 butterfly with Staffeldt and freshmen Andrea Schmidt and Amanda Sumrow clocking faster times than Oregon State’s top finisher.
 
Staffeldt (53.26) and Hammond (1:55.40) won the 100 and 200 freestyles respectively with Houck coming in behind for NAU’s two other one-two finishes.The Lumberjacks’ remaining individual victories came courtesy of Houck in the 50 free (24.32), Kazakeviciute in the 200 breaststroke (2:22.06), Staffeldt in the 100 fly (57.20) and senior Monica Pruett in the 200 individual medley (2:09.70). For Kazakeviciute and Staffeldt, they both finished third overall in their respective races trailing only a pair of Arizona swimmers each.
 
In the day’s final event, NAU employed a 200 freestyle relay team consisting of three-fourths freshmen with Ila Hughes, Schmidt and Logan Neal teaming with Edmond to post a winning time of 1:38.83.
 
Also critical was NAU’s ability to not allow Oregon State to pile up top finishes in the events the Beavers did win. Oregon State won both the mile and 500 freestyles, but senior Kendall Brown and sophomore Kimmy Richter then took the next two spots. In the 100 breaststroke, Kazakeviciute answered the Beavers’ victory with a runner-up finish.
 
The NAU divers were not to be outdone, and while they did not have Oregon State competitors, they did take on Arizona’s high caliber athletes and stacked up well with them on Friday. Junior Alexa Geiger and senior Chelsea Jackson were the top Lumberjack divers highlighted by a one-two overall finish on 1-meter. Geiger and Jackson bested all of their competitors by taking the top two spots with scores of 266.40 and 264.30 respectively. Freshman Raquel Gonzales placed fourth overall with a score of 232.88.
 
On 3-meter, Geiger and Jackson placed second and third respectively with scores of 267.98 and 264.53. Freshman Christina Torrente occupied the third scoring spot for NAU with a sixth-place overall finish and a score of 252.53.
 
“We’ve been training hard and even though the weather wasn’t great today, they all did a great job competing and diving consistently,” said diving coach Nikki Huffman. “I was happy with every single one of them. With 1-meter, (Alexa and Chelsea) have a little more confidence right now and it could’ve gone either way with either of them winning. They just dove a little better than the Arizona divers today (to win).”
 
The Lumberjacks’ annual double dual in Tucson wraps up their road schedule for the season. The only thing standing between NAU and the WAC Championships at the end of February are three home meets starting with next Saturday’s dual meet versus Colorado State in the Wall Aquatic Center at 11 a.m. 

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