TUCSON, Ariz. – Facing far from ideal conditions, the Northern Arizona swimming & diving team persevered and nearly posted an upset in their double dual versus No. 14 Arizona and Oregon State on Friday at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. The Lumberjacks were denied the victory against the Beavers as Oregon State rallied in the final two events to prevail 148-146 against a feisty NAU squad. NAU also fell to the Wildcats, 191-102.

In a long meet featuring both men and women competitors plus additional competition from Missouri of the SEC and WAC rival New Mexico State in the pool as well as Air Force on the diving boards, the Lumberjacks were strong in their finale to a grueling week of training camp in Tucson.

On the swimming side, NAU had a number of solid performances highlighted by a one-two-three finish against the Beavers in the 100 fly. Freshman Kimmy Richter was the lead swimmer of the Lumberjack contingent, placing fourth overall in the event with a time of 58.08. Just behind her were senior Alexis Juergens and freshman Alina Staffeldt with times of 58.76 and 58.95 respectively.

Freshman Roni Houck picked up a pair of individual wins in the head-to-head against Oregon State, first touching the wall in 24.51 to finish fifth overall in the 50 free. She then picked up another fifth place finish, and first versus the Beavers, in the 100 free with a time of 53.99.

The 200 fly was also a standout event for the 'Jacks with junior Eva Pold and Staffeldt taking the top two spots against the Beavers with fifth and sixth place finishes ahead of OSU's top swimmer. Pold, with a time of 2:08.26, and Staffeldt, with a time of 2:09.06, were also good enough to finish third and fourth respectively against the Wildcats.

Several other Lumberjacks posted runner-up finishes head-to-head with Oregon State including junior Kendall Brown placing fifth overall with a time of 10:27.74 in the 1,000 free and freshman Claire Hammond recording a time of 1:55.29 for a seventh place overall finish in the 200 free in the day's first two individual events. Also finishing second versus OSU was Pold in the 500 free, finishing sixth overall with a time of 5:11.01.

Moving into the breaststroke events, sophomore Urte Kazakeviciute and freshman Melanie Harris continued their strong campaigns with a pair of top 10 finishes in the 100 and 200 events. Both swimmers would finish second and third respectively against the Beavers. NAU's best finish in the backstroke events came courtesy of junior Lindsay Clark-Warren, who placed eighth overall, and second versus Oregon State, in the 200 with a time of 2:11.38.

"Our fliers swam well and some of our distance girls had some good swims," said head coach Andy Johns. "Overall, it wasn't so much about the times as it was about racing and dealing with 40 degree temperatures. It wasn't a great environment for great performances. All in all, it was a good showing and to come down to the last event against a Pac-12 team in a dual meet is great. Hopefully this was good experience for our team to move forward with."

Against the Beavers, the Lumberjacks held a 138-120 lead with two events remaining, but Oregon State stole the victory by going one-two in the 200 IM and the 400 free relay.

Part of the reason for NAU's late lead versus Oregon State was the performance of their divers. Junior Chelsea Jackson posted a third place finish on 3-meter with a score of 260.65. Junior Carlye Townsend (200.25), freshman Alyssa Loeffelman (194.95) and freshman Emma Simmonds (191.85) also recorded top 10 overall finishes.

On 1-meter, sophomore Alexa Geiger was stellar recording a team-best finish of third overall with a score of 250.10. Jackson also placed in the top five in fifth with a score of 216.15. Rounding out the top 10 were Townsend (207.50) and Loeffelman (200.80) with Simmonds (196.85) one spot out in 11th.

"It was cold but we hung tough," said diving coach Nikki Huffman. "There were definitely some ups and downs. There was some good diving and some not so good diving, but we dealt with the things around us after a hard week of training. We're happy with what we've been doing all week and we'll be happy to get back home."

The Lumberjacks will have a quick turnaround with another dual meet at home in the Wall Aquatic Center versus Northern Colorado on Wednesday. The meet will be NAU's final this season and will be free for all fans to attend starting at 4 p.m.