FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona swimming & diving team will begin the 2015 year – and stretch run towards the WAC Championships – on Friday in Tucson with a double dual against No. 14 Arizona and Oregon State. The double dual versus the two Pac-12 schools will serve as the team's finale of their week of training in Tucson.

"The week has been good so far," said head coach Andy Johns. "The purpose of being here is to get quality training which we've had a lot of. Friday will be about learning to deal with adversity, whether it's with the weather or the quality opponents. It's a good opportunity for building competitive toughness in situations that will be less than ideal but we still need to be our best. We're focused on the process and fine tuning for end of the year performance."

The Lumberjacks finished the 2014 year with a dual meet victory at the University of San Diego which followed a successful three-day meet at the UNLV Invitational. In the Lumberjacks' 151-108 win over the Torreros on Dec. 20, NAU won eight events with seven different swimmers winning an individual event.

The victory improved NAU's dual record to 3-2 as the squad has once again received contributions up and down the team's lineup. Fourteen different Lumberjacks have won at least one individual event through the first five dual meets led by freshman Alina Staffeldt, who has claimed victories in six events. Junior Kendall Brown and sophomore Urte Kazakeviciute each have four wins.

Staffeldt is not the only first-year Lumberjack swimmer who has shined brightly thus far as five different freshmen have won events. Roni Houck has three wins in the sprint freestyle events, while Melanie Harris has a pair of wins in the breaststroke and Kimmy Richter has won two events in the distance freestyles.

On the diving boards, junior Chelsea Jackson has been the unit's leader with four dual meet wins. Sophomore Alexa Geiger also has a win under her belt. The five NAU divers can be found throughout the WAC's top diving scores as all five rank in the top 20 on both springboards. Geiger and Jackson are one-two on 1-meter.

While the first half of the season finished strong, Friday marks the beginning of the final two months of the season as NAU begins to prep for the conference championships. Last year, the Lumberjacks suffered defeats to both the Wildcats and Beavers in their first meet of the new year. NAU's loss to UA was by a 188-107 margin, while the 'Jacks lost to Oregon State by a narrow 157-137 margin.

"I'm not too worried about the outcomes at this point," Johns said. "I'm definitely more focused on the process. Arizona is a top 10 caliber team with a lot of talent. The University of Missouri will also be here and they're a very fast SEC school. I think we match up well with Oregon State, so we're going to focus on ourselves and one of the outcomes could be a favorable result and that would be great."

Jackson is the only returning Lumberjack who won an individual event in last season's double dual. She placed first on 1-meter and led four Lumberjack divers in the top six including Geiger's fourth-place finish and junior Carlye Townsend's sixth-place finish. Senior Caitlin Wright posted three top five finishes in the 200, 500 and 1,000 freestyles on the swimming side.

Missouri and New Mexico State will also be competing in the meet, which will resemble an invitational with multiple teams. On the diving boards, the NAU divers will also be competing against divers from Air Force.

The double dual will start at 2 p.m. at UA's Hillenbrand Aquatic Center on Friday.

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