FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 2, 2022) - Swimming and Diving is hitting the road for the first time this season as the team is set to take on the New Mexico Lobos and New Mexico State Aggies in back-to-back meets on Friday and Saturday.
The Lumberjacks are heading into their first road trip of the season, coming off the clean sweep to Idaho, Ottawa, and Arizona Christian two weeks ago in Flagstaff. Friday and Saturday's meets will be the Jacks last traditional dual meets until January.
Still early on into the season, NAU is looking to continue building momentum moving forward. Capitalizing on the Jacks first competitive meet of the season, Sophie Velitchkov stood out for NAU. Velitchkov brought in four victories in all four events she swam, including the 200 medley relay with teammates Delaney Phillips, Elsa Musselman, and Nicole Kepl.
Velitchkov went on to win the 100 backstroke at 58.82 just ahead of second place finisher, Freshman Gracie Munk. Munk finished the 100 backstroke at 58.82. The freshman was also crowned NAU's annual Pentathlon intrasquad meet a few weeks back after posting four top three finishes through the five events.
Freshman Elsa Musselman also settled into her first competitive meet quickly as she put up a first place in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:09.17, bringing in the win with a three second gap between second place.
Freshman diver Margaret Wesche is coming off an impressive first meet that earned her Western Athletic Conference diver of the week. Wesche put up two NCAA qualifying scores while also placing second on the 3-meter boards (297.83) and third on the 1-meter boards (272.25).
Junior Maegan Jensen topped the 1m dives with a score of 273.90, followed by another freshman win as Mackenna Stocker placed first on the 3m dives with a final score of 302.70, notable the only diver to break 300 points.
The Lobos started their season with two losses to North Texas and Wyoming, before settling in with a pair of wins to CSU Pueblo and Western Colorado. New Mexico found success in the pool and on the boards in its last meet as Alex Robertson rounded out the 3-meter and 1-meter boards with two NCAA qualifying scores. Robertson has finished first in each of the six diving events the Lobos have competed in this season so far.
In the pool, the Lobos have seen success from junior Jordan Foster who brought in a first place finish for the team in the 100 free, coming in at 54.52. Foster was followed up by a New Mexico second place finish from junior Ashley Sterchele, coming in at 55.64.
The last time NAU and New Mexico faced each other in the pool and on the boards was back on Nov. 6 2021, as NAU hosted the Lobos and earned the 180-115 win in Flagstaff.
New Mexico State also holds a pair of wins and a pair of losses on their record heading into the weekend meet. The Aggies brought in a 150-88 win to North Texas before dropping to WAC opponent Northern Colorado with a 166-77 loss. NMSU bounced back the next day with a 139-83 win at the Colorado School of Mines, also falling to Colorado State with a score of 150-72.
The Aggies Lindsay Puhalski found a second place finish in the 200 IM during the team's last meet out, coming in at 2:11.01. Puhalski also combined with teammates Aimee Burton, Naomi Slee, and Elizabeth Cervantes-Vanderlugt for a pool record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:33.79.
Italia Aranzabal has stood out for the Aggies on the boards, claiming a first and second place finish on the 1m and 3m boards against Northern Colorado.
The Jacks and Aggies last saw one another at the WAC championships as NMSU finished in fourth place behind the Lumberjack champions. In dual meet fashion, the two teams last met on Jan. 22 in Flagstaff, where the teams tied 132-132 through 14 events.
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