FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona swimming & diving team won the first four events and 13 in all to ensure that Senior Day was a rousing success in a commanding 173-122 victory over Idaho. The win was NAU's third straight dual meet victory in a row to open the season, accomplishing the feat for the first time in four years.
 
"Last night was a tough meet, so to see us bounce back and look a little sharper this morning against a conference rival speaks volumes about our team and their resiliency," said head coach Andy Johns. "(On Senior Day) there are a lot of mixed emotions. I'm happy for them and collectively, they may be the best class to ever graduate. Aside from all of their swimming accomplishments, they're a great group of girls."
 
Claire Hammond, Roni Houck, Allison Mann, Audrey Mann, Kimmy Richter and Alina Staffeldt were all honored during the meet, and Senior Day proved to be a highlight with the Lumberjacks' dominance over the Vandals – a team they will see again in February at the WAC Championships.
 
Houck, Richter and Staffeldt accounted for four of NAU's 13 event wins, with Richter winning a pair of events in the 200 and 500 freestyles.
 
"The whole team made us posters and the energy today was so exciting," Richter said. "We've been working really hard, so it was nice to see the team being so supportive."
 
Considering it was Senior Day, an added bonus was that the NAU divers – who do not have a senior among their unit providing not only a bright present but an even brighter future – continued their early season superiority picking up two more victories on the springboards. The Lumberjacks are now a perfect six-for-six in dual meet diving events.
 
Junior Tatiana Kurach had a monster performance to win the 1-meter event, posting a score of 328.88 that was less than four points shy of Taryn Harris' school record set in 2011. She was not the only highlight in the event though as junior Olivia Payne recorded her first career NCAA Zone qualifying score of 273.53. Junior Christina Torrente wound up the 3-meter winner with a score of 323.10, collecting her third event win of the weekend.
 
"We were really solid on 1-meter," said diving coach Nikki Huffman. "Tatiana was on fire and even Rocky (Gonzales) was really good. Of course with Olivia getting her first qualifying score, she was great. Christina is really consistent on 3-meter right now. Even Katie Conn, she's only been able to do hurdles for less than a week so for her to be in the mix she's doing a great job."
The Lumberjacks swept the top spots in the 200 medley relay to open the meet and they were off to the races. Freshman Sarah O'Connor, freshman Niamh McDonagh, Richter and junior Andrea Schmidt clocked a winning time of 1:47.28 with NAU's 'B' team finishing right behind at 1:47.73 ahead of Idaho's 'A' relay.
 
Freshman Sam Milewski then cruised to a win in the 1,000 freestyle by almost 25 seconds in a time of 10:38.71 before Richter and redshirt junior Monique King swept the top two positions in the 200 free. O'Connor then won her first of two events in the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.06.
 
By the time the Vandals posted their first event victory in the 100 breaststroke, NAU was already ahead 53-21. Schmidt and freshman Maddie Seidl responded by going one-two in the 200 fly and the Lumberjacks closed the first half of the meet with freshman Elisa Rodriguez, Staffeldt and sophomore Fernanda Montiel going one-two-three in the 50 free.
 
After Kurach's near record performance on 1-meter, Houck (52.39) and O'Connor (2:06.22) won the 100 free and 200 back respectively. Idaho claimed the 200 breast, only for the Lumberjacks to go one-two in the next two events. Richter posted her second event victory of the day with a time of 5:06.13 in the 500 free with Milewski in second, and Staffeldt touched the wall in 57.49 to win the 100 fly with Schmidt behind her.
 
Torrente won the 3-meter springboard and McDonagh got to the wall first in the 400 IM in a time of 4:35.12 by over nine seconds. Idaho closed the meet with a win in the 400 free relay.
 
The Lumberjacks will have next week off before they split for the first time this season. The swimmers will head to Las Cruces, N.M. for a two-day meet against New Mexico State on Nov. 17-18, while the divers will remain at home by hosting the Lumberjack Diving Invitational from Nov. 17-19.