GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (November 20, 2021) - Northern Arizona Swimming ties for first place with Colorado Mesa University in the A3 Performance Invite, while gaining experience and momentum looking towards the schedule ahead.
The final day of the invite began with a morning session of events in the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breaststroke, and 200 fly. The Lumberjacks began the morning, sitting sixty points behind Colorado Mesa University, as they competed without their divers who hosted their own invite this weekend.
Beginning with the 200 back prelims, Annie Carlton placed third coming in at 2:02.86. Senior Katy Smith shined in the 100 free all day long, coming in first at 52.00 in prelims. The 200 breaststroke prelims brought in 2nd and 3rd places for the Lumberjacks from Haley Mayhew (2:21.10) and Delaney Phillips (2:21.93). The freshman came to impress in to. 200 fly prelims, with Ashley Lawrence taking first at 2:05.57, followed by Rachael Lytle coming in at 2:05.77.
Heading into the final session of the A3 Performance Invite, the 'Jacks knew they needed their best swims yet. Beginning with the 1650 free, freshman Casey Craffey set a meet record with her first place, finishing at 16:55.44. Her teammate, Helena Robla-Alvarez, brought in second place finishing at 17:27.19. Francesca Criscione came in fourth place in the mile race at 17:32.48.
"Casey swam great all weekend, and the mile was the exclamation point for her. It was a great swim and she just went for it and kept going, so that's a great swim for her," Head Coach Andy Johns said.
The 200 back finals gave the Lumberjacks 3rd and 4th places from Annie Carlton (2:01.71), and Jamie Dellwardt (2:04.11). Smith continued her momentum in the 100 free finals, bringing another first place to NAU, coming in at 51.49. Mayhew (2:19.36) and Phillips (2:21.51) finished in 2nd and 3rd in the finals of the 200 breaststroke. Â Â Â Â Â
"All weekend Rachael had a huge event program that she swam double events yesterday, double today, and two 500's on Thursday and that's not necessarily her usually event lineup and she was really solid, I'm really happy for her," Johns said.
The 200 fly gave freshman Lytle and Lawrence another chance for victory, and they took it. Lytle came in at 2:04.31 to finish in first place and with the meet record, with Lawrence right behind her in second at 2:07.08. The decision of the meet came down to the final race, the 400 free relay, where CMU placed 1-3, leading to the meet ending in a tie for the Lumberjacks and the Mavericks.
"Really the last two days have been super impressive, what they were able to do and come back from a pretty big deficit. Certainly we would prefer an outright win but we know we have a lot in the tank and we will look forward to joining forces with our divers the next time out," Johns said.
The Lumberjacks will be back in action on Dec.11, where they head to Grand Canyon University to compete against the Lopes.
