GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (November 17, 2023) – A year after winning the 100-yard butterfly event at the TYR-CMU Invite as a freshman, setting a Colorado Mesa meet and pool record with a time of 53.87. Sophomore Elsa Musselman was back for more in the 2023 version of the event, repeating as the top finisher with a 54.01 during day three of the TYR-CMU Invitational on Friday.
"Elsa did a great job today," head coach Andy Johns said. "She led from start to finish and even did another time trial to work on some details that will pay off in February."
Another Lumberjack, senior Caylah Jago, finished two places behind her with a 55.49 mark in the 'A' final for the 100-butterfly. Jago improved her time from the preliminaries earlier in the morning by 0.57 seconds.
Two NAU swimmers placed fourth and fifth in the second women's event of the day, the 400-yard individual medley.
Senior Maddy Rey was almost six seconds faster in the final compared to the preliminaries, ending with a 4:26.84, .03 seconds from being within the top three spots.
Right behind her was senior Abigail Tashlein, whose 4:31.30 earned the Lumberjacks 14 points to their total team score.
Third place in the 200-yard freestyle belonged to senior Annie Carlton, and her 1:50.21 was fewer than two seconds away from having Northern Arizona's second NCAA 'B' cut of the weekend in Grand Junction.
Also earning points in that race for the Lumberjacks were junior Bena Koehn, junior Casey Craffey, junior Helena Robla-Alvarez, and sophomore Sarah Dorrheim.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, freshman Trelise Dance's 1:03.21 was good for fifth in a tightly contested 'A' final. Sophomore Cydnie Perkins scored nine points for the 'Jacks and finished ninth.
The final event on Friday was the 100-yard backstroke, in which NAU had three finishers within the top ten, including senior Sophie Velitchkov, Carlton, sophomore Gracie Munk, and junior Jamie Dellwardt.
Velitchkov, Jago, Koehn and Dance would also make up the Lumberjack 400-yard medley relay team that would place third a year after setting the pool and meet record in the event.
One more day remains for NAU Swimming in Grand Junction as they will look to close out its first invite of the season on a strong note with events including the 200-backstroke, 100-freestyle, 200-breaststroke, 200-butterfly and the rigorous 1,650-yard freestyle.
TEAM SCORES
Colorado Mesa - 821
Wyoming - 672
Northern Arizona - 538
Colorado School of Mines - 294
CSU Pueblo - 163
Utah - 128
Adams State - 85
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