PHARR, Texas (February 25, 2023) - Claiming a decade of dominance, the Lumberjacks win their 10th straight WAC conference title, ending the conference meet with a total of 835 points. NAU set their program record for points scored at a WAC Championship meet, with the highest from a WAC team since 2011 where Boise State finished with 835.
The Jacks broke the WAC record for most consecutive years winning the championship, earning the title every year since the 2013-14 season. The Jacks were previously tied with SMU with nine as the Mustangs had won the championship for nine straight years from 1997-2005.
"Every team is different and every year is different and it still is really fun and really exciting, we are super proud of all their efforts," head coach Andy Johns said. "It's been awesome."
Starting the final day of the WAC Championships 125 points ahead of the second place team in standings, GCU, the Jacks picked up some quick prelims times in preparation for finals.
Jamie Dellwardt and Annie Carlton placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200 back prelims, followed by Gracie Munk in eighth to give the Jacks three athletes in the 'A' final. Sophie Velitchkov placed fourteenth, putting the junior in scoring position for the 'B' final. Bena Koehn served as the lone NAU swimmer in the 100 free, coming in eighth at 51.10 to move on to the 'A' final.
The Jacks moved one up and two down in the 200 breaststroke prelims, with Delaney Phillips finishing 13th behind Cydnie Perkins in 9th and senior Haley Mayhew in third at 2:15.72. Mayhew finished less than a second off of the top two swimmers in the heat to move on to the 'A' final.
In the final preliminary event of the meet, Caylah Jago finished sixteenth at 2:07.23 to enter into the 'B' final. Elsa Musselman finished second in the event, coming in at 2:00.29 in a tight finish with Utah Tech's Reese Hazan who placed first at 1:59.03. Maddy Rey came in just behind the two for fourth place at 2:00.44, with Northern Colorado's Payten Irwin in between for third place at 2:00.34.
NAU started off the finals with the 1650 free as Casey Craffey, Helena Robla-Alvarez, and Francesca Criscione stepped up for the Jacks in the 'A' final. Craffey championed the event for the second consecutive season, earning her career top time with 16:20.50. Craffey's mile time earned her an NCAA 'B' cut standard while the sophomore re-wrote her name in No. 2 in NAU's all-time record book in the event. Criscione entered her career top time in the event as well, placing fourth overall at 16:55.12.
Velitchkov grabbed her season top time in the 200 back finals, swimming in heat 'B' with 2:01.64. The 'A" final came down to the wire in a close finish with Utah Tech's Pia Murray championing the event, Dellwardt finished fourth for her career top time at 1:58.17, followed by Calrton in fifth for her career top time of 1:58.75. Munk finished eighth overall at 2:02.54. Koehn finished the 100 free 'A" final with her career top time of 51.03 in eighth place.
Perkins and Phillips went third and seventh in the 'B' final of the 200 breaststroke, as Perkins earned her career top time of 2:18.29. NAU saw one of its top moments of the meets as Mayhew broke the NAU record in the 200 breaststroke for WAC gold after finishing at 2:12.95. The previous record was set in 2017 at 2:13.02.
With the last individual event of the night, the Jacks went all out in the 200 fly. Rachael Lytle picked up her season top time with 2:05.03 to finish first in the 'C' finals, followed by Kendall Carlson with her career top time of 2:04.77 for second. Jago closed out the 'B' final with second place and a season top time of 2:03.22. Rey earned yet another WAC gold medal in the 200 fly finals with her season top time of 1:58.92 marking 14 medals for NAU in the 2023 WAC Championships.
"We're doing it as a group trying to get it all done, and we did it today," head diving coach Nikki Kelsey said.
NAU earned seven gold, three silver, and four bronze medals with Craffey and Rey each earning two individual gold medals each, while Rey brought in a bronze as well. Mayhew grabbed two herself, coming home with a gold and silver and NAU caps off their dominant decade of ten straight WAC Championship titles.
