Cody Bashore

Women's Swimming & Diving February 18, 2021 Katie Rapp, NAU Athletic Communications

NAU Freshman Francesca Criscione Earns First Individual Gold Medal on Day 2 of WAC Championships

ST. GEORGE, Utah (February 18, 2021) – Northern Arizona remains on top after wrapping up the second day of the 2021 Western Athletic Conference Championships with 192 points.

"All in all, we're certainly happy to remain at the top of the leaderboard after a day of not our best events," head coach Andy Johns said. "We have a lot of people who haven't swam in their best events. We'll see where the rest of the meet goes."

PRELIMS
During the preliminary round of the 500 free, four Lumberjacks qualified for the A finals. Maddy Rey brought the fastest time, finishing in 4:56.89. Francesca Criscione, who pushed NAU to win its first gold medal last night, ended the prelims in second in 4:57.85. Annie Carlton, who turned the pace of the 800 free relay for the 'Jacks to win their first gold on day one, hit the wall 4:58.70 to finish fourth. Along with these three freshmen, junior Astrid Villeda wrapped up in eighth with 5:02.47.

Maddie Seidl and Haley Mayhew were two more 'Jacks who recorded an A finals time, finding their way to sixth (2:05.52) and seventh place in the 200 IM (2:06.44), respectively.

While these five Lumberjacks were the only ones who placed in A finals, Hope Williams, the senior from Texas, posted a top-12 time of 23.94 to swim in the 50 free B finals.

FINALS
The Lumberjacks had a slower than normal start beginning in the first finals event of the night, the 200 freestyle relay. Sophie Velitchkov, Williams, Caylah Jago and Abbie Nelson hit the wall at 1:32.62 to fall into fifth place.

"The four girls who swam the 200 freestyle relay, that time was really good for each of them," Johns said. "It was good enough to start the night off pretty well."

Garnering the team with another gold medal, Criscione finished with the fastest time in the 500 freestyle in a new personal best time of 4:54.09, outswimming her previous best by more than 15 seconds (5:11.14 on Jan. 15, 2021).

"Frannie took control halfway through and kept it," Johns mentioned. "It was a really smart race for her."

NAU posted another top-three finish in the 500 free with Maddy Rey's bronze earning time of 4:55.73. Rey also earned her new collegiate best time for the event, beating the previous by more than 20 seconds (5:17.67 on Jan. 15, 2021).

Carlton, though she led for most of the 500 free, finished in fifth, timing in at 4:57.49. Villeda remained in eighth, recording a final time of 5:03.48.

"The 500 free was big for us," Johns said. "The three freshmen all had lifetime bests, To have all four in the top eight, that's about as good as we could have done. They've been good for each other all year long, training-wise. It was really good to see them having fun."

Rounding out the rest A finals competition of the meet, Mayhew and Seidl finished in fifth (2:04.61) and seventh place (2:05.49), respectively, in the 200 IM. Mayhew found her new personal best time in this event, erasing the 2:06.40 she swam as a freshman.

"To have both Haley and Maddie in the top eight in the 200 IM is the key," Johns said. "Haley had a great night time swim, especially in the breast and the free legs – the splits were outstanding. The two of them did their job."

Williams, in the B final of the 50 free, posted a fourth-place finish, wrapping up the races for the Lumberjacks with a time of 23.99.

"Hope swimming in the B final was a nice little bonus. Those five points she scored are really important and will matter in the final score," Johns said.

With the two-top three finishes, and multiple top-eight placements, the Lumberjacks will stay on top heading into the third day, totaling 192 team points.

"We're happy to be competing," Johns said. "The facility is fantastic, the people are super nice, and it's about as good as it can be, and we're hoping we'll stay as good as we can."

NAU will begin the third day of the 2021 WAC Championships tomorrow morning with prelims kicking off at 11 a.m. The preliminary swim is live-streamed on the Western Athletic Conference's Facebook page. The 'Jacks will swim in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back during the morning and evening, adding on the 400 medley relay at the end of the day. Finals will begin at 6 p.m. MST and will be streamed live on ESPN+.

2021 WAC Championship Day 2 Scores

Northern Arizona: 192
Grand Canyon: 185
Northern Colorado: 182
New Mexico State: 170
California Baptist: 149
Idaho: 116
Dixie State University: 92
Seattle University: 87