AUSTIN, Texas – Redshirt junior Monique King etched her name in the NAU's all-time performance list with her blistering time of 4:50.40 in the 500 freestyle during Thursday's Texas Invitational evening session. King placed a team-best 27th in the event and was just one of several Lumberjacks to post a lifetime-best score on the second day in the Lonestar State.
 
"We got night-time swims and some lifetime-bests and we're gaining a ton of experience racing from lane eight and racing against some of the best teams in the country," said head coach Andy Johns. "We're not hitting on all cylinders, but we're really pleased with what we're seeing from here. Hopefully we'll see a trend where we're getting better as we get through this meet."
 
After King went 4:54.50 in the preliminaries, she shaved her time by over four seconds to post NAU's fastest 500 free time in five years. Her 4:50.40 time was good for third in the 'D' final of the 500 free and 27th overall. Freshman Sam Milewski finished 31st after qualifying for the finals with a morning swim of 4:52.59 – the best of her debut season by over four seconds.
 
Junior Sarah Takach and freshman Niamh McDonagh both swam in the 200 individual medley 'D' final after clocking their best career times in the morning. McDonagh, who went 2:04.19 in the morning, posted an even faster time of 2:03.27 at night to place 28th overall. Takach recorded a prelim time of 2:03.55 – a half second faster than her finals time – and finished 31st.
 
In the 50 free, freshman Elisa Rodriguez was the lone 'Jack to earn a night swim in the 'E' final. After recording a season-best time of 23.51 in the preliminaries, Rodriguez tied for 37th overall with a time of 23.55 in the finals. She now owns the fastest 50 freestyle time on the team this season.
 
The night began with the 200 freestyle relay where NAU turned in a season-best time of 1:35.44 behind the efforts of senior Roni Houck, junior Andrea Schmidt, senior Alina Staffeldt and Rodriguez.
 
Freshman Sarah O'Connor, Takach, Staffeldt and Houck capped the night with a season-best time in the 400 medley relay of 3:49.65.
 
Also competing for the Lumberjacks in the individual events was senior Kimmy Richter in the 500 free with a time of 4:58.98. Houck (23.70), Staffeldt (23.80), Schmidt (24.06) and O'Connor (24.32) all swam in the 50 free preliminaries as well.
 
Day three of the Texas Invitational starts with the 400 IM prelims at 9 a.m. MST on Friday. Qualifying heats for the 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke will follow with the finals slated for a 5 p.m. MST start. NAU will also swim the 200 medley relay during the evening session.