The Northern Colorado women topped Colorado Mesa and Western State this weekend. They beat out CMU 208-82 and WSCU 184-115.
Northern Colorado:
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Northern Colorado swim and dive headed over to the western slope on Friday evening for a tri-meet against Western State and host Colorado Mesa. The Bears ended up defeating both schools, winning 208.0-92.0 against Mesa and 184.0-115.0 versus Western.
“I’m really proud of the way the girls swam tonight. We didn’t have the greatest performances last weekend, and the girls showed they can bounce back from something like that today,” head coach swimming Kelly McClanahan said. “We had some great swims tonight and the girls looked comfortable and confident in the water.”
The best event of the night for the Bears was the 100 backstroke, where the trio ofValeria Mihhailova, Brianna Salanitro and Ellè Gawronska took the top three spots in order.
Mihhailova was the lone swimmer to finish under a minute in the race, clocking in at 58.08 seconds.
Mihhailova also finished first overall in the 50 free with a time of 24.89.
Carleigh Barrett had another strong performance for the Bears capturing first overall in the 200 Butterfly (2:09.31), and 1000 Freestyle (10:48.72), while finishing second in the 500 Free with a time of 5:14.72. Barrett was just 0.22 second behind teammate Sydney Kovar in the 500 Freestyle.
Kovar also had a good meet for Northern Colorado clocking in at 1:56.95 in the 200 yard Freestyle, for second against Western State and first against Colorado Mesa. In the 100 Free Kovar touched the wall with a time of 54.15 to finish second overall, and first versus Mesa.
“We still have to get our relays performing. We can’t open and close meets without those wins. We are losing a lot of points by not winning the relays, so we have some work to do there,” McClanahan said. “All in all, I am very happy with the energy the girls brought to the pool today. We’re in the home stretch with only 33 days until Conference, so it is great to see the confidence the girls showed today.”
Northern Colorado’s best finish in any of the relays was second.
UNC’s divers also had a strong performance on the night, led by Savanna Meadowsfirst place finishes in both the 1 and 3 meter. She finished with a score of 227.70 in the
1M and 271.45 in the 3M.
Taylor Walsh and Haley Schneider also executed well off the platforms. Walsh finished second in both with scores of 255.80 (1M) and 225.75 (3M).
Schneider made it a clean sweep for UNC on the 3M with a score of 204.85. In the 1M she took fourth overall with a total score of 197.00.
“Tonight was a good chance to really put into play the small things we have been working on. For the most part, we were able to do that,” head diving coach Chelsea
Popplewell said. “There is definitely still some fine tuning that needs to be done before the WAC Championships and NCAA Zones, but we showed growth in the right direction tonight. Going 1, 2, 3 on three meter was a good start to the meet.”
The Bears are off for a week then hit the pool again in Kearney, Nebraska on Jan. 29-30 for another tri-meet. That meet will be between UNC, Nebraska-Kearney and Colorado State-Pueblo.
Colorado Mesa:
GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. – Miranda Reetz won three events to lead the Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams in dual meet action with Western State and Northern Colorado Friday (Jan. 22).
Colorado Mesa University handed Western State its first lost in dual meet action this season defeating the Mountaineers 155-144. Northern Colorado defeated Colorado Mesa 208-92.
Reetz won the 100 breast (1:06.72), 200 breast (2:25.78) and 200 individual medley (2:13.05).
The Mavericks had three runner-up finishes. Abbie Porter second in the 1,000 free (10:55.00) and Eryn Leonard in the 200 fly (2:11.73) and 100 fly (59.14).
Sami Lezmeier was third in the 500 free (5:20.45) and fourth in the 100 back (1:02.00).
Marissa Bradley was third in the 200 free (1:59.42).
Cassi Blakeman was third on the 1-meter (220.15) and fourth on the three-meter (198.75).
CMU placed third in the 400 medley relay (4:01.86) and third in the 400 free relay (3:42.31).
Colorado Mesa will host the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 10-13.
Swimming news courtesy of Northern Colorado and Colorado Mesa Swimming & Diving.
