PHARR, Texas (March 2, 2024) — A championship streak that started in the 2013-2014 season for the Northern Arizona Swimming and Diving team continued Saturday evening as the Lumberjacks claimed their 11th straight WAC Conference Championship. The Lumberjacks finished the meet with 841.5 points, 253.5 points more than Grand Canyon, who placed second in the meet.
"This is a really special feeling," head coach
Andy Johns said. "It was tough all the way. We had some great swims, we set some school records, and I'm really proud of this group."
En-route to claiming the title tonight,
Casey Craffey opened the evening session by completing the 3-peat and grabbing the gold in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:21.84.
Francesca Criscione closed out the mile clocking in at 17:09.62.
Seeded third in the 200-yard backstroke,
Annie Carlton grabbed the gold with a time 1:57.27. To close out the A-Final,
Jamie Dellwardt came in seventh place with a time of 2:00.94 and
Sophie Velitchkov followed in eighth place clocking in at 2:03.27. In the B-Final,
Gracie Munk came in with a time of 2:00.83 and
Meropi Eggink followed for NAU with a time of 2:04.29.
Abigail Tashlein closed things out for the Jacks in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:04.49.
In the 100-yard freestyle,
Elsa Musselman earned bronze with a time of 50.24. In the B-Final,
Bena Koehn came in first place in the heat and took ninth place overall with a time of 50.72. To close out the event,
Helena Robla-Alvarez came in 19th place with a time of 51.91 in the C-Final.
Cydnie Perkins came in fourth place in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.96.
Trelise Dance followed in seventh place clocking in at 2:18.43.
Delaney Phillips grabbed the victory in the C-Final coming in with a time of 2:19.92.
In platform diving,
Mackenna Stocker set a new school record scoring 278.50 points.
"Mackenna's platform performance tonight was incredible and I'm really proud of everyone," head diving coach
Nikki Kelsey said. "Our conference had some tough divers and we really rose to the challenge. Number eleven truly does feel like heaven."
Gwen Smithberg held the old record with 261.10 points, set at the WAC Championships in San Antonio, Texas in 2013. To close out diving,
Grace Wesche came in fourth place earning 237.20 points and
Maegan Jensen came in fifth place to round things out for the Jacks with 228.70 points.
Maddy Rey would close out individual swimming events by going for the 3-peat and grabbing gold in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.80.
Caylah Jago came in 11th place clocking in at 2:03.72 and
Kendall Carlson came in with a time of 2:04.75, to win the C-Final.
To conclude the championship,
Elsa Musselman,
Annie Carlton,
Sophie Velitchkov and
Bena Koehn took home the gold in the 400-yard freestyle relay and set a new school record of 3:20.02. The old record of 3:21.53 was set in Houston, Texas at the 2019 WAC Championships.
"We're proud to be a part of conference title 212 for NAU," Johns said.
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