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Bella Cratsenberg of Bellingham, WA has announced her decision to continue her academic and athletic career at New Mexico State University beginning in the fall of 2021. She has been a club swimmer at Bellingham Bay Swim Team for eight years, and she is in her senior year at Bellingham High School.
I chose NMSU because of the outstanding coaches and the extremely positive team environment!
Last March, Cratsenberg competed at the TYR ISCA Junior National Championships. The meet was formatted so that swimmers would compete in short course yards in prelims and long course meters in finals. Cratsenberg competed in 7 events, making it back for a finals swim the 100 and 200 free and the 200 and 400 IM. She finished 15th in the 100 and 200 meter free, 7th in the 200 meter IM, and 16th in the 400 meter IM.
She also posted personal best times in the 100 yard free (53.09), 200 yard (1:54.56) and meter free (2:12.07), 200 yard (2:08.70) and meter IM (2:26.38), and the 400 meter IM (5:13.57). Her 200 meter IM met the 2019 Futures qualifying time standard.
Cratsenberg competed at the Pacific Northwest Swimming Senior Championships in December of 2019. There, she swam the 100 and 200 free, the 100 fly, and the 200 and 400 IM. She went personal best times in finals of the 100 and 200 free and in prelims of the 100 fly.
Top SCY Times:
- 100 free – 52.43
- 200 free – 1:52.79
- 200 IM – 2:08.70
- 200 back – 2:07.41
Cratsenberg will arrive at the New Mexico State University campus in the fall of 2021, where she will swim under the direction of Coach Richard Pratt. New Mexico State finished 4th at the 2020 Western Athletic Conference Championships. The 200 medley relay consisting of Maude Boily-Dufour, Ashley Reynolds, Reagan Nentwich, and Neza Kocijan won the team’s only gold medal of the meet. Nentwich and Boily-Dufour each earned individual silver medals while Kocijan brought home a bronze medal.
Cratsenberg will be a member of the Aggies’ class of 2025.
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