FLAGSTAFF, Arizona (January 30, 2019) – The Northern Arizona women's diving team will be competing in the Lumberjack Diving Invite on Feb. 1-2 in the Flagstaff Aquatic Center. The two-day invite will consist of Northern Arizona, San Diego State, and Idaho. This will be the first time the Lumberjack divers will be facing San Diego State in the 2018-2019 season and the third time NAU will be facing in Idaho.
The 'Jacks last competed on Jan. 25-26 in a two day meet in Boise, Idaho against Boise State. The Lumberjacks ended up falling to the Broncos in both of the meets, with scores of 126-74 and 78-143. Northern Arizona picked up three first-place finishes in each day of the meet. Five of the wins came between the lanes, while one came from diving.
In day one of the meet NAU's three wins came in the 500 freestyle (
Monique King), 200 butterfly (
Maddie Seidl) and the 200 freestyle relay (
Elisa Rodriguez,
Katy Smith,
Alice Hick, and
Sam Seiber).
In the second day of the meet against Boise State the Lumberjacks wins came from the 200 breaststroke (
Hope Williams), the 400 individual medley (
Niamh McDonagh) and the 1-meter (
Tatiana Kurach).
Although not winning either of the two diving events,
Jenny Cheetham wrapped up a great month of January as she was the 'Jacks top finisher in the 3-meter with a third-place finish and also placed second place in the 1-meter. The 296.10 score in the 1-meter was Cheetham's highest score of the year.
Matchup
The Idaho Vandals will be entering the Lumberjack Diving Invite with two impressive divers in Nikki Imanaka and Janelle Lucas. Imanka has the highest 1-meter score of the 2018-2019 season for the Vandals with a score of 301.95, while Lucas has the highest 3-meter score with a score of 321.45.
San Diego State will also enter the invite with a potent duo of Ximena Gonzalez and Delaney Gallagher. Gonzalez has been the Aztec's top diver throughout the season in all three events, even with Gallagher currently holding the fifth highest score in the 1-meter and tenth highest score in the 3-meter in SDSU's program history.
