FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (January 11, 2019) – The Northern Arizona women's swimming and diving team went one and one during Friday afternoons dual meet against Kansas and Northern Colorado. The Lumberjacks beat Northern Colorado by a score of 172-to-117, however the Lumberjacks lost to Kansas by a score of 197-to-101. The dual meet was senior day for the 'Jacks with the team honoring its six seniors,
Monique King,
Tatiana Kurach,
Olivia Payne,
Andrea Schmidt,
Sarah Takach and
Christina Torrente.
"The seniors have just been solid for us since they first stepped foot on campus," NAU head coach
Andy Johns said. "They are all just great people, great students, great leaders and most importantly great teammates."
After the one and one performance on senior day, NAU moves to 4-3 on the season, while being 3-0 against WAC competitors.
Northern Arizona was able to take three outright wins in the meet in the pool and also had the best team performance on the boards in the dual meet.
Diving Results
The dominant senior duo of Kurach and Torrente put on a show in the aquatic center for their senior day with both placing in the top three in the 1-meter and the 3-meter events. Kurach placed second in both events as she trailed Xu Vicky of Kansas, while Torrente placed third in both.
"They just always show up and put together good performances," NAU associate head coach
Nikki Huffman said.
The fellow Lumberjack divers put together quality performances as they placed between fourth and eighth place in both events. Sophomore
Jenny Cheetham pieced together a nice meet as she took fourth in both events, while the senior Payne had a nice 1-meter event placing sixth.
"The team today put together a great dive here and a great dive there, but need to put together an all-around great meet," Huffman said.
Swimming Results
The Lumberjacks picked up three outright victories in the meet. The first win for the 'Jacks came way of the senior Schmidt, in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:05.76. Northern Arizona's next victory came in the following race where sophomore
Elisa Rodriguez was able to remain her dominant self and win the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.46. The final victory for the Lumberjacks came from fellow sophomore
Niamh McDonagh in the 200 Individual Medley.
Although not winning the events, NAU had other strong performances on the day with both their 200 medley relay and 400 free relay taking second to Kansas. Rodriguez's day wasn't finished as she took second in the 100 freestyle, only trailing Kansas' Jenny Nusbaum with a time of 51.37.
The Lumberjacks were able to continue the trend on the season, as a dominant freestyle squad with the senior King taking third in the 1000 freestyle, where she trailed two Jayhawks in the event. The final NAU swimmer to place in the top three was sophomore
Hope Williams in the 100 breaststroke.
"This is a tough time of the year as we are training hard as we have a few more weeks of hard work before we can rest a little bit and sharpen up for the conference championship," Johns said.
Looking Forward
Northern Arizona will go on the road with the diver's next meet being the UCLA Diving Invite from Jan. 18-20 in Los Angeles, Calif., while the entire team will compete again at Boise State
