In the first two years of Boise State’s existence, they faced their primary in-state rivals Idaho and came out of the meet with a victory.
Ever since, however, Boise State has dominated this series, and after a 211-89 win on Saturday in Moscow they’ve run off seven-straight victories against the Vandals.
In total Boise State won 14 out of 16 events, including 6 swimmers who won multiple individual events.
That includes sophomore Brittany Aoyama, who is a perfect eight-for-eight this season across relay and individual events. She started her day as part of Boise State’s winning 200 medley relay (1:43.28) before getting into her individual events.
She won the 100 free in 50.98, with an impressive splitting of 24.92/26.06. The race was tight at the 50, but Aoyama broke it open for over a two-yard victory.
Later, in the 100 fly, Aoyama won by an equally large margin, touching in the 100 fly in 54.98. The Stockton, California native been remarkably consistent this season: on Thursday against Utah, she swam a 54.94 in the 100 fly.
Aoyama’s two wins were one-upped by her teammate Sam Wicks, who earned three individual wins on the day after also being a part of Boise’s 200 medley relay.
Wicks started with a 55.46 in the 100 yard backstroke. She followed that with a 23.54 in the 50 free, as part of a 1-2 with teammate Katelyn Martin (23.79), and won the 200 IM in 2:04.49.
Boise State completed their sweep of the 100 yard events in the 100 breaststroke, though that one wasn’t as handily won as the other three. Heather Harper won the race in 1:05.25, but was only in 4th place at 50 yards. She had to fight on the back-half of the race, though, to overcome Idaho’s tough trio of Laura Griffing (1:05.32), Cara Jernigan (1:05.58), and Faith Barr (1:06.22).
In contrast to the 100 yard races, Idaho did have some positive results in the 200 yard events – grabbing wins in the 200 fly and the 200 back.
Jamie Sterbis won the women’s 200 fly in 2:04.56. She went out like a rocket, turning at 58.3 at 100 yards – just one second slower than she swam for her 100 fly.
Sterbis was able to hold her speed for the third 50 yard split, but on the last 50, Boise State senior Jessica Bottelberghe made a big push. Sterbis didn’t exactly die: her last 50 of 33.52 was about what one would expect given the rest of her race. Rather, Bottelberghe had a surprising reserve of energy, and split 31.52 in the last 50: two seconds faster than Sterbis.
Ultimately, though, Sterbis’ early lead of over two seconds was enough, and she won by two-tenths over Bottelberghe (2:04.78).
A few events later, Idaho got another win when Rachel Miller swam a 2:04.36 in the 200 yard backstroke. Boise State’s Nikki Cannon was 2nd in 2:05.89.
Those are two events that Boise State lost against Utah on Thursday – a meet that the Broncos also won. Bottelberghe, though, seems to be shifting her focus a little more toward this 200 yard fly as a senior, so she should continue to develop as the season goes on. The Broncos graduated two of the top four swimmers in the Mountain West in the 200 fly after last season, including conference champion Rachel Heaney. They also didn’t have Whitney Jorgensen for this meet, and despite just a 2:09 against Utah on Thursday, the Broncos shouldn’t be worried yet: Jorgensen showed last season that she’s a big taper swimmer.
Both teams will have extended 20-day breaks before they race again. Boise State will head south to swim Oregon State on October 31st in Corvalis, while Idaho will race at Northern Colorado on the same day.
