NAU vs New Mexico (W)
- Friday, November 4, 2022
- Albuquerque, N.M.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Team Score: NAU 172, New Mexico 120
Courtesy: NAU Athletics
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (November 4, 2022) – Starting off the two-day road trip to New Mexico, the Lumberjacks picked up their first dual meet win with a 172-120 score over the New Mexico Lobos on Friday.
The win was highlighted by four Lumberjacks picking up two event wins each in Casey Craffey, Maddy Rey, Haley Mayhew, and Mackenna Stocker. The meet started off with a one-two finish in the medley relay, as NAU finished at 3:53.74 with Gracie Munk, Delaney Phillips, Elsa Mussleman, and Annie Carlton on the ‘A’ relay team. Finishing in second was Sophie Velitchkov, Haley Mayhew, Caylah Jago, and Bena Koehn coming in at 3:54.14.
The Lumberjacks continued with their momentum throughout the meet, as Craffey brought in her first victory of the day in the 1000 free at 10:33.62. Craffey followed that up with a first place finish in the 500 free, finishing at 5:09.55.
Maddy Rey followed suit with first place in the 200 free at 1:54.97, and a second individual victory in the 400 IM, coming in at 4:38.99, two second in front of the second place finisher of Francesca Criscione who finished at 4:41.89 for the Lumberjacks. Criscione earned herself a first place finish in the 200 fly, coming in at 2:10.13.
Haley Mayhew was the third Lumberjack of the day to earn two individual first places, making her mark in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 breaststroke. Mayhew finished at 1:06.48 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:23.35 on the 200.
The divers put on yet another show on the boards as NAU went one-two-three on the 3-meter. Mackenna Stocker was the fourth NAU athlete to earn two first place victories as she placed first in both the 1m and 3m with a final score of 305.55 on the 3m boards and 274.50 on the 1m boards.
Margaret and Grace Wesche came in behind Stocker on the 3m dives, finishing in second and third, respectively, with scores of 298.65 and 277.35. Grace Wesche placed second on the 1m dives with a final score of 262.95, followed by Maegan Jensen in third with 260.63.
“It was a great start, really set the tone,” Head Coach Andy Johns said. “We’re looking forward to the challenge of back to back meets and to see a WAC foe tomorrow.”
NAU will now head to Las Cruces to take on the New Mexico State Aggies for a meet tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. MST.
Courtesy: New Mexico Athletics
Albuquerque, N.M. – The Lobos’ swimming and diving team fell to Northern Arizona on Friday by a score of 172-120. New Mexico trailed from the get-go and was never able to recover. The Lumberjacks won each of the first three events of the meet and took a commanding lead that they never surrendered.
While the meet didn’t go exactly as planned for the Lobos, there were some bright spots. The team won six events, including an event where they took first and second place and two events where they finished in each of the first three places.
New Mexico’s first win of the day came in the 100-yard backstroke, where senior Marina Olmstead (1:00.28) narrowly out-touched the top Lumberjack competitor by just one tenth of a second. The Lobos’ next victory was in the 50-yard freestyle courtesy of sophomore Katy McCarter’s (24.11) second victory of the season in the event. McCarter also collected the next win for the team in the 100-yard freestyle (52.44), her second in that event as well.
The Lobos began to pick up some steam towards the end of the meet. In their next two event wins, they took first, second, and third place. First was the 100-yard butterfly, where Olmstead (1:00.48), sophomore Layni Andrle (1:01.18), and junior Ashley Sterchele (1:02.86) did the job for the Lobos. Next was the 400-yard individual medley, in which Andrle (4:49.28), senior Josie Carpenter (4:50.95), and sophomore Caitlin Beery (4:55.55) were the top three finishers.
New Mexico also dominated in the final race of the meet, the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team finished in both first and second place, giving them a very positive note to end on. McCarter, Olmstead, sophomore Brynn Quintana, and junior Jordan Foster won the race as the Lobos’ “A Relay” (1:38.24) and sophomore Paige Lyons, Sterchele, freshman Maya Clise, and senior Grace Carey came in second on the team’s “B Relay” (1:43.83).
Junior Kristen Hepfer was the Lobos’ top finisher in the 1-meter diving event, the only diving event of the day. She placed fourth with a score of 243.45.
Up next for the Lobos will be an appearance in the Phil Hansel Invitational meet, which is a three-day meet starting on Nov. 17th. The meet will be in Houston, Texas, and is expected to last all day on each of the three days.
