GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (November 14, 2023) – Returning to Grand Junction, Colorado, for a third consecutive season, NAU Swimming will be competing in the 2023 TYR/CMU Invitational hosted by Colorado Mesa University from Wednesday to Saturday.
After tying for first place in its maiden appearance at the invitational in 2021, the Lumberjacks closed out the 2022 event with a second-place finish, scoring 1,134 points, finishing just 62 points behind the eventual winner in Colorado Mesa.
In addition to Colorado Mesa, programs that will be featured at the meet include two other Division-I foes in Utah, Wyoming, and Division-II Adams State, Colorado School of Mines and CSU Pueblo.
This will be the first invite of the year for the swimming program after having won both of their previous dual meets to start the regular season against Idaho and New Mexico, respectively.
Against New Mexico, senior Maddy Rey earned three first-place finishes, while Casey Craffey, Sophie Velitchkov and Cydnie Perkins had the fastest time in two events.
For her efforts, Rey was named the WAC Swimmer of the Week after having times that ranked fourth, fifth and seventh in the conference this season.
Craffey picked up the maiden first-place finish at Colorado Junction last season with a 4:51.72 time in the 500-yard freestyle, which qualified for an NCAA 'B' cut.
Sophomore Elsa Musselman swept both the preliminary and finals in the 100-yard butterfly, and her 53.87 second preliminary time was just .01 seconds away from a school record.
Besides Musselman, as a freshman last season, Gracie Munk championed the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 54.79, improving from her preliminary time by more than a second.
Northern Arizona will also be looking to defend its top result in the 400-yard medley relay. Returners from the Relay A team from a year ago include Musselman, Caylah Jago and Sophie Velitchkov.
The invite kicks off on Wednesday night with three timed finals that will get underway at 6 p.m. Preliminaries on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will begin at 10 a.m. with finals happening at 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
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