GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (November 16, 2023) – On the second day of the TYR-CMU Invitational at Colorado Mesa University Thursday, Northern Arizona Swimming held their third-place position as a team, totaling 292 points over the first two days.
The 292 points earned by the Lumberjacks trails host Colorado Mesa, who is the leader with 441, and Wyoming, who jumped from fourth place on the opening day to second.
"It was an absolutely great night of racing," head coach Andy Johns said. "Five in the 'A' final of the 500 is something to be proud of. I thought the swimmers in the individual medleys swam well, too, improving on their times from earlier in the day. I was also very happy with the 200-freestyle relay, finishing faster than we were at last year's conference meet."
Leading the way in the 'A' final of the 500-yard freestyle was junior Casey Craffey, whose final time of 4:50.21 was not only good enough to be classified as an NCAA 'B' cut but in addition set a new Colorado Mesa pool record by 0.9 seconds.
Craffey had previously set another record in the 500-freestyle with her 4:46.36 time at the 2023 WAC Championships this past February, being the best time for that event in the championship's history.
The other four Lumberjacks in the 'A' final were senior Annie Carlton, senior Maddy Rey, junior Bena Koehn and junior Helena Robla-Alvarez.
Sophomore Elsa Musselman was third in the 'A' final of the 200-yard individual medley, improving on her preliminary time of 2:03.75 with a 2:02.17 in the finals.
Saving the best for last as a member of the NAU 'A' relay team, Carlton split 22.77 on the anchor of the 200-yard freestyle relay, which was her fastest career time.
That relay team for the 200-freestyle consisted of Carlton, Musselman, sophomore Sarah Dorrheim, and senior Sophie Velitchkov, who finished second only behind Wyoming's relay group.
Day three of the TYR-CMU Invitational will continue on Friday at 10 a.m. with the 100-yard butterfly, 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard breaststroke and backstroke.
Musselman will be searching to defend her CMU pool and meet record in the 100 butterfly from a year ago when she finished with a time of 53.87.
TEAM SCORES
Colorado Mesa - 441
Wyoming - 372
Northern Arizona - 292
Colorado School of Mines - 176
CSU Pueblo - 111
Utah - 76
Adams State - 61
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