FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 4, 2018) – The Blue vs. Gold meet will mark the Lumberjacks final tune-up of the year before their meet against New Mexico. This meet will be the first event where both the swimming and diving team will participate for the 'Jacks. The Blue vs. Gold will take place at 2 p.m. MST on Oct. 5 in the Aquatic and Tennis Complex and will be free to attend for fans.
The captains for the meet will be
Sarah Takach and
Christina Torrente for the Blue team and
Tatiana Kurach and
Andrea Schmidt for the Gold team.
"This event is about our team coming together," NAU head coach
Andy Johns said. "Our upper classman (captains) get to pick the teams, and set the lineups. So they get a chance to be leaders."
The Blue vs. Gold will be the first time of the season where the divers will be able to participate in a competitive environment for NAU. On the blue team the divers will consist of Captain
Christina Torrente along with
Emily Sharrer,
Olivia Payne, and Raquel Gonzalez. Whereas the gold team divers consist of captain
Tatiana Kurach, along with
Jenny Cheetham,
Katie Conn and
Alyssa Jones. This will be the first time that the freshman Jones will compete for the Lumberjacks.
"It is still early in the year and we are still working on getting our competitive lists back," NAU diving coach
Nikki Huffman said. "We are excited because we are at a time where we kind of get to see what's working and what we need to work on more."
The NAU swimmers will be split evenly between the two teams, with each having its advantages in different events.
In the backstroke, it seems that will go down to the wire as the teams are very even. The blue team will have the Pentathlon winner
Fernanda Montiel and
Teresa Cobb, while the gold team will have the runner-up at the Pentathlon
Sarah O'Connor and
Lauren Hazel.
Just like the backstroke, the butterfly event will be very close as the blue team is made up of
Kate Bier and
Maddie Seidl, whereas the gold team is made up of Schmidt and
Maddie Seidl. In the Pentathlon, Schmidt was able to take home first place in this event, and it will be interesting to see if she can continue her success in the Blue vs. Gold.
Compared to the other two swimming events, the breaststroke and the freestyle seem to be more stacked for one team compared to the other. For the breaststroke, the gold team looks to have a significant advantage as
it has both
Hope Williams and Niemh McDonagh on the same team. These two were able to take both first and second in the Pentathlon just over two weeks ago. While the blue team seems to have the advantage in freestyle events, as they have the combo of
Elisa Rodriguez and
Monique King. Both have had their success in freestyle over their time at NAU.
"There's always a little bit of a rivalry between the teams, but with that comes a ton of cheering and encouragement , which is really what it is all about," Takach said. "All in all it's a fun way to get some racing in before dual meets begin."
Last year's Blue vs. Gold ended with the blue team winning in a dominant fashion 61-43. The stars of the meet were freshmen Rodriguez and McDonagh, who both won two event a piece.
