FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. and LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Northern Arizona swimmers won four of six events to conclude their dual meet against New Mexico State, and the NAU divers again placed three in the finals of the Lumberjack Diving Invitational on Saturday.
 
Junior Tatiana Kurach was NAU's high finisher at its home invite for the second straight day, placing seventh overall on 3-meter with a two-round score of 589.05. After a preliminary score of 284.25 had her in eighth after the first round, Kurach improved to seventh by posting a finals score of 304.80.
 
She was one of three Lumberjacks to qualify for the finals with junior Raquel Gonzales next in eighth place. Gonzales, who missed Friday's 1-meter competition with an injury, returned to the lineup and posted an impressive score of 579.70. Meanwhile, freshman Jenny Cheetham made her second consecutive finals and finished in 12th with a score of 527.15.
 
Junior Christina Torrente narrowly missed giving NAU a fourth diver in the finals by placing 14th – a mere two points outside the top 12 finalists. Junior Olivia Payne and freshman Katie Conn also placed 25th and 27th respectively in the 3-meter prelims.
 
"There are some of them who are feeling as good as they were in earlier meets, but I think that's a normal part of training for this time of year," said diving coach Nikki Huffman. "After a good Thanksgiving break, we'll be ready to go again (following tomorrow's competition). Raquel was probably our best performance today, considering her injury, but she was really consistent and I hope she keeps moving forward."
 
The NAU swimmers dropped their first dual meet of the season, 184-148, to New Mexico State at the conclusion of a two-day meet. Despite the overall loss, NAU posted victories in four of the six events in Saturday's third and final session.
 
"Overall it was a great meet for us," said head coach Andy Johns. "I really liked the format. A couple extra relays and no diving makes the scoring unique, but we had lots of opportunities to race. Setting pool records, achieving lifetime-bests and putting names in the top five all-time lists at a meet in November are all things we're very proud of. We now have three months to get better before the WAC Championships."
 
In addition to four event wins, NAU set three pool records at the NMSU Swimming and Diving Complex, upping its weekend total to seven records.
 
Redshirt junior Monique King set her second pool record of the weekend by winning the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:57.52. Combined with freshman Sam Milewski and senior Kimmy Richter, the trio posted their third one-two-three sweep of the weekend after doing so in the 200 and mile freestyles on Friday. In all, NAU had five of the top six finishers in the event with senior Claire Hammond and sophomore Erin Spielman placing fifth and sixth respectively.
 
The Lumberjacks won the final three events of the day, starting with junior Sarah Takach in the 200 individual medley. Her time of 2:04.22 clinched her second event win of the two-day dual, completing an exceptional individual weekend. Senior Roni Houck then won the 50 free with a pool record time of 23.64.
 
Richter, King, Milewski and Hammond wrapped up the meet with another pool record in the 800 free relay, clocking a winning time of 7:35.06.
 
NAU also placed second in the 200 medley relay in Saturday's opening event and junior Andrea Schmidt was the Lumberjacks' top finisher in the 100 butterfly in third overall.
 
While the swimmers will turn their attention to the Texas Invitational after the Thanksgiving holiday, the divers will close the Lumberjack Diving Invitational on Sunday at 11 a.m. in the Aquatic and Tennis Complex. NAU will compete on the tower for the first time this season.