FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 16, 2021) - The Northern Arizona swimming team is heading to Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction for the A3 Performance Invite this week.
NAU is coming off an impressive win to the University of New Mexico, finishing the meet with a score of 180-115. Heading into the first three day invite of the season, the Lumberjacks are looking to focus on improving their competition, and gaining some experience at the A3 performance invite, which is set to begin Thursday. The invite will take place Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for the 'Jacks.
Each morning of the invite, the prelims will take place starting at 8:30 a.m. MST, and the evenings will showcase the finals of each event, set to begin at 3:30 p.m. MST on Thursday and Friday, and 2:30 p.m. MST on Saturday.
The A3 Performance Invite began in 2010, and has been hosted by CMU every year since, besides 2020 due to COVID-19 protocols. Five other schools will be participating in the invite in Grand Junction, which include, Colorado Mesa, CMU Club team, Colorado School of Mines, CSU Pueblo, and Western Colorado. This will be the Lumberjacks first time competing in the invite.
Colorado Mesa's women's swimming and diving team is currently ranked 7th in the CSCAA Division II polls. The Mavericks are returning Lauren White who is the current record holder for the 100 back with a time of 55.13, Bella Waters who is a 2-time 200 fly winner, and Davy brown who won the 200 IM in 2019.
"Getting on the road will be fun, and going to a three day prelims and finals meet is a big deal for us, so we're excited for sure. Gaining experience is the big thing. Colorado Mesa has some really good swimmers, they're a top ten team with some Division II all-Americans, we're going to see some pretty good competition," Head coach Andy johns said.
While the NAU swimming team is in Grand Junction, the Diving squad will host the first Lumberjack Diving Invite of the season Friday and Saturday in Flagstaff.
Colorado Mesa will live stream the events, and they can be watched here. Live stats for each event will be available here.
