GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. / FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Nov. 22, 2024) – It was a successful day in the water for the Northern Arizona women's swimming and diving teams, as they competed in two separate meets yesterday.
The NAU swimming team participated in day two of the TYR/CMU Invitational in Grand Junction, Colorado. The Lumberjacks, who were in fourth place after the first session with 108 points, moved up to third with a cumulative score of 249.50.
The morning session began at 10 a.m. Mountain Standard time with preliminaries in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley (IM), and 50-yard freestyle. The second session, which included a 200-yard relay, started at 5:00 p.m. MST.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Casey Craffey led the Lumberjacks with a preliminary time of 4:55.50, finishing first. She improved her time in the finals with a 4:50.84, securing another first-place finish. Craffey holds the pool and meet record in this event, set in 2023 with a time of 4:50.21. Helena Robla placed third in the prelims with a 4:56.18 and finished eighth in the finals with a time of 5:02.76. Kylie Ney ranked fourth in the prelims with a 4:56.45 and improved to 4:55.59 in the finals.
In the 200-yard IM, Elsa Musselman led the team with a preliminary time of 2:04.61, improving to 2:03.80 in the finals to take fourth place. Cydnie Perkins placed ninth in the finals with a 2:06.31, improving from her prelim time of 2:06.88. Kaci Kelaher finished 10th, improving her preliminary time from 2:08.89 to 2:06.97.
The 50-yard freestyle saw Kokona Watanabe lead the Lumberjacks with times of 24.32 in the prelims and 24.12 in the finals. Lily Powell followed with prelim and final times of 24.65 and 24.54, respectively.
In the 200-yard relay, Northern Arizona's "A" team of Musselman, Katarina Klatt, Watanabe, and Gracie Munk finished third with a time of 1:34.65. The "B" team - featuring Powell, Perkins, Kelaher, and Robla - posted a time of 1:36.17 for an eighth-place finish.
Meanwhile, in Flagstaff, the Northern Arizona women's diving team kicked off the first day of the Lumberjack Diving Invite.
The preliminary round featured 34 divers competing in the women's 3-meter category, with each diver completing six dives. The top 18 advanced to the finals.
All six Lumberjacks advanced, with Makenna Stocker leading the preliminaries with a score of 287.80. Grace Wesche followed in second with 275.45, while Margaret Wesche placed fourth with 264.35. Victoria Knapp finished sixth with 252.55, Catalina Devia placed 13th with 232.65, and Kendall Marquez rounded out the group in 18th with a score of 222.90.
In the finals, the Lumberjacks dominated by taking the top four spots. Stocker maintained her lead, finishing first with a total score of 580.10. Knapp climbed to second with 569.60, Grace Wesche took third with 564.90, and Margaret Wesche finished fourth with 543.95. Marquez jumped 10 spots to place eighth with a score of 492.20, while Devia scored 481.90 for 14th.
"It's our first big invite with prelims, finals, and combined scores like zones. I was really excited to see how we did," head diving coach Nikki Kelsey said. "We're dealing with some injuries and sickness, but we also had a few new dives, and they were performed pretty well. Overall, I think we did great. Even though some of our girls didn't have a great prelim, they came back strong in the finals. Having all six make the finals and going one, two, three, and four was fantastic. I'm so proud of all of them."
On Friday, the swimmers will begin at 10:00 a.m. MST with prelims in the 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back. Finals will begin at 5:00 p.m. MST and will include a 400-yard medley relay. Live stats from the meet can be found here, while live streaming can be found here.
The diving team will also start at 10:00 a.m. in Flagstaff, competing in the platform event with five dives. The top 18 divers will advance to the next segment. The platform finals will be followed by a team event featuring three divers performing six dives in total—two each from the 1-meter, 3-meter, and platform. Live stats of the diving meet can be found here.
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