BOISE, Idaho. (January 26, 2019) – Northern Arizona's Swimming and Diving team finished off the second day of its two day meet against Boise State on Saturday, Jan. 26. The Lumberjacks ended up falling to Boise State for the second consecutive day with a final score of 143-78.
"I am proud of their efforts and how they encouraged and supported each other as a team today," NAU head coach
Andy Johns said. "We will look to sharpen up over the next four weeks before we head to Houston for the WAC Championship."
The 'Jacks came into the second day of competition against Boise State after 11 events on Friday, Jan. 25, where the team was able to pick up three wins and five-second place finishes. The final score of the first day was 126-74.
The second day of the meet consisted of 12 events, in which NAU won three of them, two in swimming and one in diving.
In the pool, the Lumberjacks two victories came in the 200 breaststroke (
Hope Williams) and the 400 individual medley (
Niamh McDonagh). In the 200 breaststroke, Williams finished with a time of 2:27.70, which was over four-seconds faster than the second place finisher of fellow 'Jack
Clara Foster. In the 400 individual medley, McDonagh took first-place with a time of 4:31.02.
The Lumberjacks took two other seond-place finishes. The first coming in the 200 medley relay, while the second one coming in the 1000 freestyle (
Astrid Villeda). The relay team for NAU was made up of
Sarah O'Connor, Williams,
Miranda Nichols and
Elisa Rodriguez, who finished with a time of 1:46.40. In the 1000 freestyle, Villeda placed second with a time of 10:35.12.
"I think we raced tough and competed well,"
Andy Johns said. "It was a good rehearsal for what is to come in four weeks."
On the boards, Northern Arizona was able to turn things around after a tough first day and take the top two places in the 1-meter event.
Tatiana Kurach took first with a score of 301.73, while
Jenny Cheetham took second with a score of 296.10. The win for Kurach was a big deal, as she has battled through injuries the past couple of weeks and having her back healthy for the WAC Championship will have a significant impact on the team's success. The 296.10 score for Cheetham marked her highest score of the year and showed her consistency over the last couple of weeks to remain as a staple at the top of the leader boards.
Northern Arizona's diving will be back in action next weekend on Feb. 1-2 in the Aquatic Center for the Lumberjack Diving Invite.
