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Alaska Women's Swimming

Remember to REFRESH these pages often since they're constantly being updated.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for our 2007-2008 Competition Schedule!

The site for the NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving National Championships will be the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Saturday - February 16
FINALS

Another All-Conference swimmer - this time Sam Zinsli earned that honor with her 5th place finish in the 1650 free. Kinsey Laine finished in 20th place giving the Nanooks 30 points in a single event. On Friday they had scored 29 points in the 400 IM and 23 points in the 100 back.

And then came the high point in the meet - literally - with the 200 backstroke. Three Nanooks made the finals and together scored 41 points. Abbey Jackson finished 19th, Kathryn Niemi finished 17th and Pavlovskaya finished in 4th place becoming the Nanook's third All-Conference swimmer. Last year ALASKA had a single member in that elite group: All-American Kelly Becker.

There were three Nanooks in the 100 free final - Karin Wagner (40th), Amanda Hartman (35th) and Jacqueline van Driessche (28th).

The final event of the meet was the 400 free relay consisting of Sam Zinsli, Karin Wagner, Mariya Pavlovskaya and Kinsey Laine. Their 9th place finish gave ALASKA 40 points for an overall team total of 378 points - good enough for 8th place, two places higher than last year's finish.

Next for the Nanooks - a week off to catch up on their school work.

Saturday - February 16
PRELIMS

Once again Nanook swimmers were able to qualify all their swimmers for the final session in an event, this time in the 200 yd backstroke. Mariya Pavlovskaya is currently in 7th place (thus insuring her of All-Conference honors in this event), Abbey Jackson has qualified for the 18th position in finals and Kathryn Niemi moves into the evening session in 21st place.

In the preliminary heats of the 100 yd freestyle, senior Karin Wagner continued to show everyone why you "never give up". She turned in the fastest time of the day for ALASKA's swimmers with a smoking 55.76 just off her lifetime best set back in the spring of 2001. She qualified for finals in 32nd place after coming into the meet seeded 61st. Two years ago Karin wasn't able to even finish a 100 yd freestyle because she was so weak from her shoulder surgery.

Courtney Miller qualified for finals in the 200 yd breaststroke in 29th place.

Joann Kump swam the 200 yd fly in a lifetime best but did not qualify for finals.

The final heats of the 1650 yd freestyle will be contested today starting with Kump swimming her mile at 2:20 pm. Kinsey Laine will swim her mile at 3:40 pm (she's seeded 11th in this event) and Sam Zinsli will swim her mile at the beginning of the finals session at 5:30 pm. Sam is seeded 2nd in this event. Last year she finished in 4th place.

The meet concludes with the 400 yd freestyle relay.

Friday - February 15
FINALS

The Nanooks had another good day at the pool moving up to 8th place in the team standings and overtaking Fresno Pacific (by only 5 points!).

Mariya Pavlovskaya and Kinsey Laine both won their respective heats in the finals of the 400 IM tonight by swimming significantly faster than their prelim times. Pavlovskaya dropped from a 4:46.96 to a 4:41.80 and Laine dropped from a 4:56.10 to a 4:49.75. Between them they scored 29 points, by far the most points the Nanooks have scored this week in an individual event.

In the 100 yd fly THREE Nanooks made finals; Kathryn Niemi finished in 22nd place (moving up from her seed place of 58th), Abbey Jackson finished 30th and Heidi Tilicki finished 31st. Today was very meaningful for Niemi since she had the same kind of surgery on her shoulder that Karin Wagner had three years ago. Kathryn has managed to bounce back to near pre-surgery form in only 6 months.

In tonight's 200 free final Sam Zinsli achieved another NCAA "B" cut finishing in 11th place with a 1:57.10 (she came into the meet seeded 19th). Last year she finished in 16th place. That time gives her "B" qualifying times in the 200, 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyles.

Courtney Miller finished in 28th place as the result of a big time drop in her 100 breaststroke. Her prelim time was 1:17.01 while her final time was 1:15.48. She had come into the meet seeded 40th.

ALASKA had FOUR finalists in the 100 backstroke! They swam well with Amanda Hartman finishing in 29th place, Abbey Jackson was 27th, Kathryn Niemi was 24th and Jacqueline van Driessche finished in 8th place. With that swim van Driessche became the only Nanook so far this year to garner All-Conference honors in an event. Only championship finalists gain that distinction.

ALASKA's 400 medley relay consisting of van Driessche, Pavlovskaya, Niemi and Zinsli finished in 8th place with a time of 4:07.73, just off the Team Record. That finish place resulted in 44 points being added to the Nanook's team total: 267 points. Last year the team had only scored 226 points by the end of the third day.

Friday - February 15
PRELIMS

ALASKA's swimmers had a very good showing this morning qualifying swimmers for finals in all five events. This is another first for the Nanooks.

Mariya Pavlovskay and Kinsey Laine qualified for finals in the 400 yd IM with swims of 4:46.96 and 4:56.40 respectively. Pavlovskaya is in 9th place currently and Laine is in 21st.

Kathryn Niemi qualified for finals in the 100 yd fly in 20th place (1:01.38) and Abbey Jackson is currently qualified in 32nd place (1:04.04).

Sam Zinsli qualified for finals in the 200 yd freestyle in 16th place (1:58.52).

Courtney Miller qualified for finals in the 100 yd breaststroke in 29th place (1:17.01).

FOUR Nanooks made it to finals in the 100 yd backstroke with Jacqueline van Driessche in 8th place (1:01.30), Kathryn Niemi in 24th place (1:03.28), Abbey Jackson in 27th place (1:04.94) and Amanda Hartman in 29th place (1:07.09).

This evening's finals session will conclude with the 400 yd medley relay.

Thursday - February 14
FINALS

Our swimmers had another good day with four Nanooks coming back to swim in tonight's individual finals. We had at least one finalist in each of the three events this evening and have now scored points in each of the first six (6) events! That's a first for this program. We're certainly on our way to being able to claim some depth to go along with the individual excellence we've showed in the past couple years.

Like last year, we qualified two swimmers for the final of the 500 free. Like last year Sam Zinsli had the best finish place of the day ending up 10th with a time of 5:09.24. She entered the meet seeded in 12th place. Though her time wasn't as fast as last year's, her training this year has been geared for the mile which will be contested on Saturday.

Without Kelly Becker's points this year, it was important for other members of our team to step up and freshman Kinsey Laine has done just that. She finished in 22nd place in the 500 free with a time of 5:22.90. She was seeded 28th coming into the meet. That swim moved her up two places in the overall standings from her 24th place qualifying spot coming out of the preliminary session. Freshman Heidi Tilicki finished in 36th place with a time of 5:27.24.

In the 200 yd IM a third freshman on the team, Mariya Pavlovskaya, finished in 16th place with a time of 2:14.31, slightly slower than her preliminary time. This is probably the weakest of her three individual events and, like many swimmers, her best events will be contested tomorrow and Saturday.

Our other IMers all moved up in the standings with Amanda Hartman's lifetime best (2:24.14) moving her from 50th up to 43rd; Joann Kump's lifetime best of 2:26.73 moving her up from 64th to 47th; and Courtney Miller's fime of 2:27.06 moving her up from 52nd to 48th.

Senior Karin Wagner had an outstanding swim in the 50 yd free with a time of 25.63, good enough for 22nd place. She was seeded in 48th place coming into the meet which is about where she placed at last year's meet in her 50. This was a particularly gratifying moment for both Karin and Head Coach Scott Lemley. Karin has been a part of this new program from its inception. Coach Lemley had watched her having success for years as a swimmer on the North Pole Aquatic Team and North Pole High School team. Karin had suffered from shoulder impingement throughout her high school years and finally had surgery to correct the problem prior to joining the Nanooks in the fall of 2005. Though her training was greatly affected the first year due to the extended recovery needed, Karin was able to swim a 25.97 at the 2006 PCSC Conference Championship. Last year she was able to train at a higher level and she finished the season swimming a 25.78. To see her come so far in the last three years as a Nanook swimmer has been inspirational for both swimmers and coaches.

Jacqueline van Driessche qualified for the 50 free final as well finishing in 32nd place overall with a time of 25.98. She was seeded 47th coming into the meet. She was one of the standouts from last year's meet and was hit hard by the flu virus two weeks ago. She is still suffering from the effects today. Sophomore Erin Widby finished in 64th place (after coming into the meet seeded 95th) with a season best 27.41.

Our 200 free relay team of Karin Wagner, Heidi Tilicki, Kinsey Laine and Jacqueline van Driessche finished in 10th place with a time of 1:44.25.

Its worth noting the Nanooks have four swimmers suffering the effects of the flu virus which made its rounds through the athletic department over the last month or so. They are without the services of their All-American flyer from last year. Yet they've scored 152 points so far this week, up from the 138 they scored by the end of the second day last year. In addition, ALASKA is competing with 12 swimmers which is the size of their travel team. Every other team at this meet is swimming with 18 swimmers and/or divers which is the maximum allowable number under NCAA rules and regulations. This conference is dominated by very good NCAA Division I teams (Northern Colorado University, Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount University) and nationally ranked NCAA Division II (UC San Diego), Division III (UC Santa Cruz) and NAIA teams (Cal Baptist University).

To be in 9th place out of 14 teams after finishing in 10th place last year (up from their 11th place finish in 2006) speaks to the caliber and determination of the members of this year's team.

Thursday - February 14 (Valentines Day!)
PRELIMS

We have several finalists coming out of this morning's prelim session. Though we don't have the official results from this morning yet . . . Sam Zinsli appears to be seeded 9th in the 500 free (5:11.27) with an NCAA "B" cut and Kinsey Laine is seeded 24th (5:21.39). Heidi Tilicki swam well also (5:27.40).

In the 200 IM Mariya Pavlovskaya is seeded in 16th place (2:13.45) while Amanda Hartman swam a lifetime best (2:24.01) as did Joann Kump (2:26.84). Courtney Miller also swam well this morning in the IM (2:27.16).

In the 50 free Karin Wagner had a great swim (25.72) her best ever as a collegiate swimmer and her fastest since her freshman year in high school in 2001! Great job Karin. Also having good swims were Jacqueline van Driessche (25.82) with a season best and Erin Widby (27.41) with a season best.

Finals begin tonight at 5:30 pm.

Wednesday - February 13

We've arrived in Long Beach last night and checked into our hotel. Today we went to the pool and swam for about an hour and then walked around Long Beach finding different spots for lunch. The meet begins tonight with the 200 yd medley relay. All relays are timed finals meaning we get one shot at making a qualifying time for nationals. After the medley relay, the men and women throw the last three dives in the final of the 3M and 1M boards. After the diving events, we'll swim the 800 yd free relay.

For results of the PCSC Conference Championships, go to http://www.pacificswimanddive.org.

For comments about the meet go to the Varsity Swimming page on the Athletic Department's web site.

Saturday - January 26

The Nanooks are in the early stages of preparing for the PCSC Conference Championships, to be held at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, CA. The meet begins on Wednesday, February 13, with competition in two relays - the 200 medley and 800 free - and two diving events. Thursday showcases the first full day of individual events which will include the 500 freestyle, 200 IM and 50 free as well as another relay, the 200 freestyle.

Sunday - January 20

California Baptist University vs ALASKA

CBU - 132
ALASKA - 73

I suppose some might call this a "tough day at work" for the Nanooks. Viewed from the standpoint of points only, ALASKA was pretty soundly beaten once again. However, keep in mind the NAIA level of collegiate swimming is equivalent to the Division II level of NCAA competition. And this was the three time defending National Champions going against our third year program. From that perspective the team from the Frozen North didn't fare too badly today.

Once again the Nanooks won the first event - the sprint version of the medley relay. Our team edged the Lancers by less than a second reprising yesterday's start. And once again Mariya Pavlovskaya and Kelly Becker won their signature events (200 yd IM and 100 yd butterfly).

After that the real story is how close the meet actually was. CBU's sophomore Melissa Bowers out-touched Nanook freshman Kinsey Laine by .13 of a second in the 200 yd freestyle. Lancer Katelynn Butler finished .90 of a second ahead of ALASKA's Jacqueline van Driessche in the 50 yd freestyle. Cal Baptist swimmer Krista Chacon got a fingertip on the wall ahead of Nanook senior Karin Wagner winning the 100 yd freestyle by .07 of a second. CBU Junior and defending National Champion Nicole Shipman out-touched Nanook freshman Mariya Pavlovskaya by .52 of a second in the 100 yd backstroke. And in the final event of the day, after leading in two legs of the 200 yd freestyle relay, Nanooks Laine, van Driessche, Tilicki and Wagner fell to the Lancers by .23 of a second.

The Nanooks get tomorrow off (Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday) and begin the three week process of resting and tapering for the PCSC Conference Championships.

Saturday - January 19

California Baptist University vs ALASKA

CBU - 131
ALASKA - 72

The Nanooks began their two meet series with the Lancers by swimming all the long events. The team of van Driessche, Pavlovskaya, Becker and Zinsli traded the lead back and forth with the girls from Cal Baptist finally touching out the defending NAIA National Champions by half a second in the 400 yd medley relay. That turned out to be one of the few highlights of the meet for ALASKA's swimmers. The toll of daily triple practices for the past three weeks was obvious in the Nanook's times as the Lancers won 8 of 11 events.

The only other wins by the Nanooks came at the hands of freshman Mariya Pavlovskaya in the 400 yd IM and sophomore Kelly Becker in the 200 yd butterfly. Kathryn Niemi and Erin Widby swam seasonal best times in the 200 yd freestyle, Amanda Hack swam a best time in the 500 yd freestyle and Abbey Jackson had a best time in the 400 yd IM.

Tomorrow the two teams square off by swimming the shorter events. The meet starts at 9 am.

Thursday - January 10

LMU vs ALASKA Maui Relay Meet

LMU - 126
ALASKA - 58

ALASKA swimmers took on Loyola Marymount one last time and quickly found out why the ladies from LMU will probably win the PCSC Conference Championships next month. They're fast and they're deep. To the Nanooks credit, they didn't cut back on their training to rest for the meet. They still swam for two hours from 5:30 to 7:30 am and they still ran for an hour on the beach. They looked tired yet strong and that's perfect for this time of the year.

Wednesday - January 9

300 Yard Swim Run

After the Maui Mile part of the morning's events, we put together a swim-run to determine who were the best overall athletes, not just in the water but out on dry land as well. Because this was more of a sprint event and involved running in the sand where the beach was fairly narrow, the coaches decided to divide the swimmers up into three heats. The top heat was comprised of the top 10 finishers from the Maui Mile, the next heat was made up of the next 10 finishers, etc. The result clearly showed our last week of noon-time training on the beach had paid off. ALASKA had the top three finishers - Kinsey Laine, Mariya Pavlovskaya and Sam Zinsli - giving the Nanooks much needed momentum into Friday's last event - a dual meet with LMU in the Lahaina Aquatic Center.

2008 Maui Mile Results

This morning at dawn the women from LMU met us on the beach for a one mile open water swim. Not everyone was excited to race a half mile out into the ocean and back to shore again - especially with whale sightings in the area - but most were game enough to at least give the event a shot. With a mass start, the group of 36 swimmers were bunched up quite a bit to begin with, however, as the leaders emerged from the pack, the mass of churning bodies eventually became a line of bobbing latex swim caps.

It was obvious the race was going to come down to LMU's best distance swimmer and ALASKA's best distance swimmer as Megan Sawelson and Sam Zinsli clearly led the pack on the way back. Megan ended up winning by a three second margin over Sam with ALASKA's swimmers taking four of the top six places.

2008 Hula Hoorah Results

LMU - 887
ALASKA - 243.5
Macalester - 34.5

This evening LMU, Macalester and ALASKA swam in a sprint penthalon. LMU's 26 swimmers were definitely favored as they have a more sprint-oriented team and the depth that comes from traveling with twice as many swimmers as we had. The LMU coach suggested the best way to score the meet was to add the times of each event rather than points scored by place. This is actually the more standard method of individual scoring for a penthalon and the meet director was able to do this late last night. The good news is our fabulous freshman, Mariya Pavlovskaya, who nearly won the meet finishing 2nd in the standard high point standing (by a mere 3 points to LMU's outstanding sprinter, Kim McKay, 93-90), ended up WINNING the meet! Her combined total time was 3:00.36 seconds and LMU's McKay's total time was 3:00.42! Mariya wins by .06 of a second! Junior Sam Zinsli finished in the Top 10 by scoring 55 points, good enough for 8th place in the normal finish place scoring method and 10th place with combined time scoring (3:08.03).

Tuesday - January 8

We have our first meet set up this afternoon between Loyola Marymount University and Macalester College. The format will be a sprint pentathlon where all our swimmers compete in all five events. As it turns out, LMU is an NCAA Division I school, Macalester is a Division III school and ALASKA is a Division II school so it'll be interesting to see how we all stack up with each other. LMU is definitely on a roll having just beaten the best team in our conference, UC San Diego, in a dual meet last weekend. UC San Diego is also a perennial Top 3 finisher at the NCAA Division II National Championships.

Wednesday - January 2

We've arrived! We were very fortunate this year when Alaska Airlines offered discounted fares from Fairbanks to Hawaii as they started their new service to the islands. Our coaching connection in LA had chosen this year to go to Maui to train over the holidays which would have caused us to really scramble to put together pool time in California between semesters. However, because our friend Bonnie's parents lived in the islands and she still had many friends over here, she was able to help us set up pool time allowing us to meet up with her team to continue our tradition of swimming with Loyola Marymount over the Christmas/New Year holidays. We took advantage of the new flight from Fairbanks to Oahu to actually save a couple hundred dollars per ticket over what it would have cost us to go to LA!

And while it's true most people go to the Hawaiian islands for a vacation, we look at our winter holiday as an opportunity to train at a very intense level, the same way EVERY college swim team looks at training during the semester break. It's called HELL WEEK ! Without the NCAA 20 hour weekly restriction, college swimmers can actually train more between semesters than under normal conditions. This is when swimmers really get fit.

Swimming isn't a skill sport nearly as much as it's a fitness sport. Attaining a state of supreme aerobic and anaerobic conditioning is the Holy Grail for swimmers. To that end, our girls are meeting at our mini-vans at 5:00 am every morning for their their first practice of the day. They don't even see the sun until they've swum for two hours. They do an hour of dryland before lunch (including running in the loose sand and doing hundreds of sit-ups and push-ups) and, finally, head over to the pool again for another two hour practice from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. By the time they get back to their rooms, they're so tired they barely make it to their beds before they collapse.

The weather has been fairly misty and windy so far. That hasn't stopped us from swimming or running outside. These young ladies may not have much of a tan when they return to Fairbanks, however, that really isn't the point of our holiday training. What we know for sure is our team will be more fit than when we got here. That, after all, is what Hell Week is all about.

On Sunday the swimmers from Macalester College and our swimmers switched the lanes from short course to long course more than doubling the length of the pool we swam in. That definitely increased the challenge of our training sets that day.

Pacific Lutheran University vs ALASKA
79 - 126

December 9, 2007

Once again the Nanooks defended their pool by beating Division III Pacific Lutheran University by a comfortable margin. That's a two win streak that breaks new ground for ALASKA's swimmers.

The opening relay ended up the same as yesterday with the Nanooks finishing in front of PLU's "A" relay 4:17. 16 to 4:23.92. The "A" team of Mariya Pavlovskaya, Courtney Miller, Kelly Becker and Sam Zinsli were on the winning side. The Nanook's "B" team of Jacqueline van Driessche, Heidi Tilicki, Abbey Jackson and Karin Wagner finished in 3rd place with a time of 4:30.81.

PLU's shining moment came in the mile where they finished 1-2-3. Nanook milers Joann Kump and Amanda Davis finished in 4th (20:29.32) and 5th (20:37.03).

Nanook freshman Kinsey Laine won the 200 free with a time of 2:04.28 while ALASKA's sophomore Kathryn Niemi finished 3rd (2:11.43) and freshman Miller finished in 5th place (2:17.29).

In the ultimate sprint event - the 50 yd freestyle - the Nanooks have not dominated all season. Today, however, ALASKA finished 1-2 with van Driessche winning the event (26.03) and senior Wagner finishing 2nd in 26.46. Freshman Tori Reiss finished 5th with a 29.33

Russian sensation Pavlovskaya won the 200 IM with a 2:16.43 while Junior Amanda Hartman grabbed 2nd place with a season best 2:28.92. Joann Kump was 4th in 2:34.41.

The only swim fast enough this weekend to break a pool record was Kelly Becker's 200 fly win when she dipped below 2:10 with a 2:09.82. Kinsey Laine finished in 2nd place (2:21.63) and Nanook Kump finished in 5th with a time of 2:42.57.

In the 100 yd freestyle, Junior Sam Zinsli beat PLU's best swimmer, Jessie Klauder, with a time of 56.33. Nanook Karin Wagner finished in 3rd place with a 58.99 while Amanda Davis placed 5th in 1:03.87.

In the 200 yd backstroke PLU's Casey Jackson won the race while ALASKA finished 2-3-4 with good swims by Jackson (2:22.92), Niemi (2:24.52) and Hartman (2:27.86).

With her first ever 500 yd freestyle swim, Russian backstroker Pavlovskaya won the event with a fast 5:25.31 while her roommate, Kinsey Laine, finished 2nd in a 5:32.09. Nanook Reiss finished in 5th place with a time of 6:47.66.

In the 200 breaststroke PLU's top swimmer, Jessie Klauder, barely outlasted Nanook Miller 2:40.44 to 2:41.83. ALASKA swimmer Tilicki finished in 3rd with a best time of 2:44.23. Nanook Jackson finished in 6th with a 3:08.75.

Finishing the meet as they started it, the Nanooks won the 200 free relay with Zinsli, van Driessche, Tilicki and Becker in a time of 1:45.38.

Next up - FINALS WEEK! We plan to finish as strong academically as we have athletically.

Pacific Lutheran University vs ALASKA
70 - 134

December 8, 2007

ALASKA Swimming experienced an historic moment today when the new women's swim team won its first ever dual meet! In fact, during the five seasons the mixed men's and women's team of the mid-80s were in existance, even though three different Nanooks competed at the NCAA National Championships and brought back seven All-American certificates between them, that program never won a dual meet. The last dual meet won by a UAF swim team was in 1973!! Pacific Lutheran University is a good DIII team (3-1 this year) and none of the Nanooks were going to take them lightly. From the opening relay, though, it looked like the Nanooks were going to be the stronger of the two teams.

The 200 yd medley "A" relay team of Jacqueline van Driessche, Mariya Pavlovskaya, Kelly Becker and Heidi Tilicki led from the starting horn and easily out swam the "A" team from PLU, 1:56.65 to 2:03.69. ALASKA's "B" team of Kathryn Niemi, Courtney Miller, Abbey Jackson and Erin Widby finished 3rd (2:07.43) and PLU's "B" team was 4th.

In the first individual event of the afternoon, Sam Zinsli and Joann Kump finished 1-2 in the 1000 free. Though not season bests, the Nanooks showed their depth and relative excellence with swims of 10:56.17 and 12:17.70 respectively.

In perhaps the most exciting race of the meet, ALASKA's Tilicki swam against PLU's best swimmer, Jessie Klauder, in the 200 free. Klauder was out fast, opening with a 57.85 in the first 100 yards. Tilicki was almost 3 seconds behind and seemed to almost be out of the race. By the third 50, however, the freshman from Junction City, OR, sensed Klauder weakening and even though she was still over a second behind, Tilicki picked up her tempo and started to chase the PLU swimmer down. With a closing sprint of 30.1 (more than two seconds faster than Kaluder was able to muster) Tilicki finished over a second ahead of her opponent with a season best 2:01.49 to Klauder's 2:02.71. Amanda Davis finished 4th in a 2:16.91.

In the 50 free PLU had the better sprinter when Dayna Blauvelt out swam ALASKA's Widby with a time of 27.25. Widby finished 2nd with a 28.43 while PLU finished 3rd (28.59) and 6th (31.15). ALASKA's Amanda Hartman finished 4th (28.98) and Nanook Tori Reiss finished 5th (29.57).

In the 400 IM, ALASKA's Kinsey Laine beat PLU's Laura Brade 4:55.68 to 5:17.54. PLU was able to finish 3rd (5:20.01) while Nanook freshmen Miller and Jackson finished 4th (5:21.98) and 5th (5:30.99).

In the 100 fly PLU put up a fight but ALASKA's lone All-American from last season, Kelly Becker, prevailed 1:01.01 to 1:05.74. Nanooks Niemi and Davis finished in 3rd (1:06.72) and 6th (1:14.83).

In Nanook Kinsey Laine's second event, the 100 free, she once again proved to be the faster swimmer beating Lute Dayna Blauvelt, 57.79 to 58.88. Alaska's Hartman was 3rd (1:00.10) and Nanook Widby was 4th (1:02.24).

In perhaps the best match-up of the day, Coach Lemley entered his best two backstrokers, van Driessche and Pavlovskaya, in the 100 yard back. The natural sprinter, van Driessche, was out fast splitting a 29.59 at the 50, nearly a second ahead of her teammate. Pavlovskaya, however, swam her second 50 almost as fast as her first (30.52 - 30.72) catching and passing the sophomore from Soldotna and winning the event with a lifetime best of 1:01.24. van Driessche was 2nd in 1:02.11 while Nanook Tori Reiss finished 4th in 1:13.96.

In the 500 free, ALASKA's Zinsli beat Klauder of PLU by eight seconds with a time of 5:19.31, merely .73 of a second off he pool record. Nanook Tilicki was 3rd in 5:28.50 and ALASKA swimmer Joann Kump finished in 5th with a season best 6:02.40.

Winning their 9th event of the day, Nanook Pavlovskaya easily out swam PLU's Klauder in the 100 breaststroke, 1:10.67 to 1:14.49. Nanooks Miller and Jackson finished 4th and 5th respectively (1:16.32 and 1:22.16).

In the final event of the afternoon, ALASKA's "A" 400 free relay team of Zinsli, Laine, Becker and van Driessche won easily with a time of 3:49.64. PLU finished 2nd (4:06.43), ALASKA's "B" team of Niemi, Kump, Davis and Hartman were 3rd (4:08.85) and PLU "B" was 4th (4:21.05).

The Nanooks swim against the Lutes again tomorrow, Sunday, at noon.

The 2007 Nike Cup

November 15 - 17, 2007

RECAP

It was a good three days in Long Beach for ALASKA SWIMMING! We achieved our first NCAA "A" time standard of the year; we achieved "B" time standards in three other events by two other swimmers; we broke a varsity relay record and four individual varsity records; we had many seasonal and personal best times; and we had fun!

Kelly Becker once again used the Nike Cup (last year called the Speedo Cup) to her advantage by achieving her "A" cut in the 200 yd butterfly early in the season. Sam Zinsli is swimming as fast now as she was last year in February. Mariya Pavlovskaya now has "B" cuts in both IMs and the 200 back and is close in the 100 back and 100 breast. She broke varsity records in both IMs, the 200 back and the 200 breaststroke. Kinsey Laine and Jacqueline van Driessche are both very close to achieving NCAA "B" standards which would put us at five individual swimmers with NCAA individual time standards. With just a few days rest the entire team looked very strong.

Thanks to Courtney's dad, Kelly and Mariya for the above images. Both her parents came down for the meet and had the opportunity to see her swim lifetime bests at a very big, very fast meet!

Saturday, November 17

FINALS

Once again Nanook swimmers swam well in finals.

Mariya Pavlovskaya dropped her time in the 200 yd back with a swim of 2:08.00 to finish in 18th place. That time was a new varsity record and lifetime best for the Russian. She's now just a second and a half off the NCAA "A" time standard.

Kelly Becker also dropped time from her prelim swim with a final effort of 2:06.97 to wind up in 13th place, the highest finish of any ALASKA swimmer this week. That time is an NCAA "A" cut and will be Becker's ticket to Missouri next March to compete in the NCAA Division II National Women's and Men's Swimming Championships.

Sam Zinsli finished in 14th place in the mile, the second best finish place of any ALASKA swimmer, while Kinsey Laine finished in 25th place in her 1650.

The Nanooks ended the meet in 15th place with 162.5 points. Division III powerhouse UC Santa Cruz barely outpointed ALASKA with 184 points for 14th place.

PRELIMS

ALASKA had another good morning at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. In the 200 yd backstroke, Mariya Pavlovskaya made it into the finals session with a 2:09.91, just off her team record of 2:09.71. The NCAA "A" time standard is 2:06.29 and this evening she'll have another chance to achieve that time. Abbey Jackson also swam the 200 yd back finishing with a time of 2:21.32, five seconds faster than her seasonal best.

In the 100 yd freestyle, Sam Zinsli had another good swim, this time with a lifetime best of 55.04. Other Nanooks swimming well were Jacqueline van Driessche ( 56.78), Heidi Tilicki ( 58.40), Amanda Hartman (58.91) and Tori Reiss ( 1:03.98).

In the 200 yd breaststroke, Pavlovskaya swam a second exhibition event, breaking the Nanook team record with a time of 2:30.75, a time fast enough to make finals though she won't move up because of the meet rules governing unofficial swims. Courtney Miller swam a lifetime best of 2:39.50.

In the 200 yd butterfly ALASKA achieved its first NCAA "A" time standard this season when sophomore Kelly Becker swam a 2:07.16 qualifying her for finals this evening. Once again she's punched her ticket for Nationals which will be held in mid-February at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Joann Kump also swam the 200 yd fly finishing with a lifetime best of 2:36.62.

Our last two milers swam their 1650 yd freestyles this afternoon. This event is considered a "time final" meaning all times swum are final times. Sam Zinsli made two NCAA "B" time standards in her swim, first by achieving the 1000 yd free time standard in her 1000 split time (10:44.32) and then by achieving the 1650 cut with a final time of 17:46.06, 17 seconds under the NCAA "B" time standard. Kinsey Laine also swam the mile splitting 10:57.35 in the 1000, which is a lifetime best, and then finishing in 18:10.23, also a lifetime best and just 6 seconds off the NCAA "B" time standard. Joann Kump's time from yesterday was a 19:49.88, a seasonal best. Her 1000 yd free split of 11:56.20 was a lifetime best in that distance.

In the final event of the morning session, the 400 yd freestyle relay, ALASKA's "B" and "C" teams finished with times of 3:54.52 and 4:21.04 respectively. Laine, Hartman, Wagner and Tilicki made up the "B" team while Reiss, Jackson, Kump and Miller made up the "C" team. The Nanook's "A" team will swim during finals tonight.

Friday, November 16

Three different Nanooks made it into the evening finals session tonight. After helping her teammates set a new varsity record in the 800 free relay by nearly seven seconds (8:01.38), Mariya Pavlovskaya once again proved to be the top ALASKA swimmer today. She anchored the relay and then finished in 19th place in the 400 yd IM with a new varsity record and lifetime best, 4:36.09. Kinsey Laine also swam the 400 IM dropping over six seconds to finish with a time of 4:47.14.

In the 100 yd butterfly, Kelly Becker also made it to the evening session finishing in 30th place (after being seeded 51st) swimming a 59.65 in prelims and then 59.85 in finals. Abbey Jackson swam the 100 fly as well finishing with a 1:07.46.

There were some great swims in the 200 yd free event although no one moved into finals. Sam Zinsli swam a 1:57.66 nearly achieving the NCAA "B" cut while Kinsey Laine went under 2:00 for the first time finishing with a 1:59.83. Also swimming the 200 free were Heidi Tilicki (2:02.43) and Karin Wagner (2:05.31).

In the 100 yd breaststroke, Mariya Pavlovskaya swam a very fast 1:08.81 in prelims though did not move into finals since she declared it to be an exhibition swim (participants are only allowed to swim in three official events in which they can score points and move into finals). Courtney Miller also swam the 100 breast with a time of 1:14.84.

Jacqueline van Driessche also made it to the finals session with a season best 1:00.95 in prelims in the 100 yd backstroke. She finished in 24th place swimming a 1:01.45 during finals. Besides van Driessche, Abbey Jackson (1:06.07), Karin Wagner (1:06.67), Amanda Hartman (1:08.96) and Tori Reiss (1:12.02) also competed in the 100 yd backstroke.

In one other individual event, Joann Kump swam the 1650 yd freestyle a day early. This year so many women entered the mile that every swimmer was given a choice to swim their event on Thursday, Friday or Saturday morning. Kump chose to swim her race today though her official time won't appear in the results until tomorrow when the rest of the milers swim their event.

The finals session began with the 200 yd medley relay where the "A" team of van Driessche, Pavlovskaya, Becker and Zinsli nearly broke the varsity record with a sizzling 1:52.40. The "B" relay team consisted of Wagner, Miller, Jackson and Laine. The "C" relay members were Hartman, Kump, Tilicki and Reiss.

Members of the 800 free relay which broke the team record were Zinsli, Becker, Laine and Pavlovskaya. The "B" relay consisted of Tilicki, Wagner, Hartman and van Driessche. The "C" relay members were Reiss, Jackson, Kump and Miller.

Thursday, November 15

FINALS

ALASKA swimmers had a good first day at the Nike Cup Invitational. Though they all swam well, in some cases achieving lifetime bests, only one Nanook moved into the finals session today. Freshman Mariya Pavlovskaya broke her own varsity record by two and a half seconds in the 200 yd IM (2:11.20) and achieved her third NCAA "B" time standard. For finals, her coach suggested she take out the first stroke of the medley, butterfly, in a little more relaxed manner in order to have more speed at the finish of her race. The 17 year-old Russian did just that finishing in 2:10.70, breaking her varsity record for a second time today. Pavlovskaya entered the meet seeded 61st and finished in 28th place.

In the first event of the day, the 500 yd freestyle, Sam Zinsli (5:13.05), Kelly Becker (5:13.83), Kinsey Laine (5:20.12) and Heidi Tilicki (5:22.77) each swam significantly faster than they had all season with Freshman Laine's time a lifetime best by three seconds. In the 200 yd IM, besides Pavlovskaya's outstanding swim, lifetime bests were turned in by Courtney Miller (2:25.80) and Amanda Hartman (2:28.08). Rounding out the event was Junior Joann Kump (2:31.99) who dropped over 10 seconds from her previous seasonal best. In the only other individual event of the day, the 50 yd freestyle, Jacqueline van Driessche (25.92), Karin Wagner (26.00) achieved seasonal bests while Abbey Jackson and Tori Reiss turned in times of 28.39 and 28.97 respectively.

In another significantly fast swim, the team of van Driessche, Pavlovskaya, Becker and Zinsli nearly broke the varsity record in the 400 yd medley relay posting a 4:07.63. The team record (4:06.51) was set at last year's conference championship when the team was tapered and shaved.

PRELIMS

We arrived at the pool this morning and affixed our banner to the top of the bleachers. With "SWIMMING" outlined it looks really good!

We grabbed some heat sheets and started highlighting our swimmers. This process confirmed what we already knew - this is one fast meet!

Though the administrators at the meet usually get results up on the internet right away, there are some glitches this year and we haven't seen a full set of results yet. Tentatively, though we had many great swims today, it appears Mariya Pavlovskaya is the only member of our team to make it into finals this evening. Her unofficial time in the 200 yd IM, 2:11.20, eclipsed the NCAA "B" time standard and broke her own varsity record by over two and a half seconds.

Full results should be up by the end of finals tonight. Look here for a recap of today's swims.

Wednesday, November 14

As predicted, the weather was hot today - probably in the high 80s. The team had a little down time planned so we wandered around Long Beach a bit, shopping and having lunch at fish taco bars, french bistros, etc. We eat at Subway so often it's a welcome break to NOT eat at a chain restaurant. Everyone had a water bottle and stayed pretty much in the shade as they shopped for tank tops and sandals.

The team met at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Center a little before 3 pm and thus we were the first ones in the pool when it opened for college swimmers to begin warming up. A couple dozen Division I swimmers from Rice University were in the lanes next to us before long and between our two teams we basically took up the entire competition pool. It was nice to be able to spread out. We even had the opportunity to practice relay exchanges.

It wasn't long before the women from the Air Force Academy showed up, then the men and women from UC Santa Cruz and BYU, the men from Stanford, etc. By 4:30 we were done and the majority of the swimmers entered in the meet were just getting going.

We headed back to the hotel so the girls could change and then went out to dinner. From now on Heather will be picking up food to go since we will probably be at the pool until 8 pm every night. IF WE'RE LUCKY. If we're at the pool that late each day it means we had swimmers in finals.

After dinner we were back in our rooms by 8:00 pm ready to get a good night's sleep in preparation for tomorrow's events.

Tuesday, November 13

The team has arrived in Long Beach and is now preparing for competition at the Nike Cup (formerly called the Speedo Cup).

We flew directly to Seattle after departing from Fairbanks at 7:30 am where we had time for a sandwich at the airport.

When we arrived at LAX we picked up our vans and drove to Long Beach. The traffic was as we expected it - they call it TMC down here in Southern California (Too Many Cars). We checked into our hotel and immediately went to the competition pool at the Belmont Plaza to swim and stretch out from the hours spent in our airplane seats.

Wednesday we'll spend a lot of time resting and studying. We need to beat the jet lag and get used to the weather (it was 10 degrees in Fairbanks when we left and will be 80 degrees here this week).

The meet starts on Thursday morning and the competition will be fierce. Many Division I teams are here and like us, they're rested and shaved to make their NCAA cuts. The best team appears to be UCLA. Next perhaps UC Irvine or BYU followed by Rice and UC San Diego. This will be a faster meet than the NCAA Division II National Swimming Championships next March.

Northern Colorado University vs ALASKA
135 - 64

Reminiscent of Friday's meet, Northern Colorado again showed the Nanooks the difference between Division I and Division II swimming by winning all but one individual event outscoring the home team by over 70 points in the process. ALASKA's lone win was Mariya Pavlovskaya's come-from-behind victory in the eighth event of the day, the 200 backstroke. Having set the pool and team records two weeks earlier in the dual meet series against LMU (2:11.77), the freshman dropped over two seconds from her best time and achieved her second NCAA "B" time standard.

Behind 1:03.29 to NC's standout junior, Chesney Randolph's 1:02.73 at the 100 mark, Pavlovskaya refused to wilt. With a blistering 1:06.42 second 100, the Russian swimmer swam an outstanding 2:09.71 to add a second national consideration time to the standard she achieved Friday in the 400 IM. NC's Chesney faded badly down the stretch finishing in 2:13.55. Sophomore Kathryn Niemi finished 4th in 2:20.28 and freshman Abbey Jackson finished 5th in 2:26.70.

The Nanooks had started the meet by outswimming the team from Northern Colorado and winning the first event, the 400 medley relay (4:10.21) due to strong efforts by Jacqueline van Driessche, Pavlovskaya, Kelly Becker and Sam Zinsli. Due to an early exchange, NC's "A" relay was disqualified as was ALASKA's "B" relay team comprised of Abbey Jackson, Courtney Miller, Erin Widby and Amanda Hartman.

Despite strong swims from Kinsey Laine, Joann Kump and Amanda Davis in the 1650 free; Zinsli, Heidi Tilicki and Widby in the 200 free; van Driessche, Karin Wagner and Tori Reiss in the 50 free; Pavlovskaya, Laine and Hartman in the 200 IM; Becker, Miller and Kump in the 200 fly; and van Driessche, Wagner and Tilicki in the 100 free, Nanook swimmers didn't come out on top again until the meet was nearly over and Pavlovskaya proved to be the strongest swimmer in the 200 backstroke.

In the other two individual events of the day, Becker, Zinsli and Davis finished 3rd, 4th and 6th in the 500 free and freshman Miller swam a season best 2:40.11 in a second Nanook come-from-behind swim finishing 3rd in the 200 breaststroke and out-touching NC swimmer Whitney Dahms by .06 of a second.

In the last event of the day, NC swimmers won the 200 free relay setting a pool record in 1:41.94. Their "B" relay finished second. ALASKA's "A" relay of Wagner, Niemi, Laine and Widby finished 3rd in 1:50.88 while the Nanook's "B" relay of Hartman, Reiss, Davis and Kump finished 4th in 1:56.90.

In addition to the pool record in the 200 free relay, Northern Colorado's swimmers set records in the 200 free (1:55.86), 200 IM (2:21.76), 500 free (5:14.43) and 200 breaststroke (2:23.76).

In two weeks Nanook swimmers will travel to Long Beach, California, to compete in the prestigious Nike Cup (formerly named the Speedo Cup, Nike bought the rights to rename the meet earlier this year).

Northern Colorado University vs ALASKA
132 - 73

The Nanooks faced another tough NCAA Division I team Friday evening as Northern Colorado University showed its superior depth outscoring ALASKA by nearly 60 points. Finishing in 3rd place at the PCSC Conference Championships last spring, NC also showed its relative excellence vis a vis ALASKA's best swimmers by winning seven of eleven events this evening at the Patty Pool.

Though outmatched by their DI opponent, there were definitely some highlights produced by ALASKA's swimmers with junior Sam Zinsli winning both her distance events and freshman Mariya Pavlovskaya breaking a pool record, setting two new team records and acheiving an NCAA "B" time standard.

Zinsli won the 200 free (1:59.56) nearly breaking a 24 year-old pool record in the process. She also placed first in the 500 free (5:19.87) again just off the pool record set last year by Seattle University's Alex Weiss. Both times were season bests for Zinsli.

Pavlovskaya smashed her team and pool record in the 400 IM by over five seconds (4:37.78) becoming the second Nanook swimmer to achieve a national qualifying time this year (sophomore Kelly Becker swam an NCAA "B" time two weeks ago in the 200 fly during the team's home series against Loyola Marymount University). Last spring, the 16th place finish time in the 400 IM at the NCAA Division II Men's and Women's National Swimming Championships (the last spot which can earn Honorable Mention All-American status) was 4:37.66.

The young Russian swimmer also touched out Northern Colorado's best breaststroker, Tori Gutt, in a team record 1:08.59 in the 100 yard version of the stroke. The 17 year-old lost for the first time this year when NC's best swimmer, Nan Liu, outswam her by nearly three and a half seconds in the 100 backstroke finishing in a pool record 58.57 to Pavlovskaya's 1:01.92.

Jacqueline van Driessche recorded season best times in the 50 and 100 freestyles, Kelly Becker now has the fastest 1000 freestyle time of any Nanook, Erin Widby improved on her sprint freestyle times as did Karin Wagner, Kathryn Niemi swam a season best in the 200 free and 100 back, Heidi Tilicki topped her best 500 free time to date, Kinsey Laine, who swam by far the most demanding schedule of the afternoon (1000 free, 400 IM, 500 free), improved upon her 1000 free time and Abbey Jackson and Joann Kump had season best times in the 100 fly.

Northern Colorado broke pool records in both relay events finishing in 1:54.06 in the 200 medley relay (breaking the Nanook's record set two weeks ago) and 3:44.60 in the 400 free relay breaking a record also set two weeks ago during the Loyola Marymount home series, only this record was set by LMU's girls. In addition, two NC swimmers went under the pool record in the 1000 free.

Saturday's contest starts at noon. The format will be the longer events (the 1650 instead of the 1000 free, the 200 back instead of the 100 back, the 200 fly instead of the 100 fly, etc.).

Wednesday was Lactate Day and the girls main set was 6 x 75s @ 5 as fast as they could swim them. They had the Sprint Spirit of the Great Pumpkin on their heads so how could they go wrong?!

After each fast 75 the girls drank 2 oz of low-fat chocolate milk or ate a piece of fruit. The low-fat milk has protein which is beneficial for repairing damage to their muscles while both the milk and the fruit contain carbs to replenish muscle glycogen and fluids lost to sweating.

After the carb/protein/fluid replacement, they sit in a 68 degree cold tub for 90 seconds to reduce the swelling in their muscles and force the recovery process. Since we swim in a 79 degree pool the first tub isn't THAT much colder than pool water.

Then, of course, they get to sit in the 97 degree hot tub for 30 seconds and stretch out a bit before they get up on the blocks again.

Our boosters recently bought us THREE hot tubs! We're going to use them when we swim our anaerobic sets (starting Friday!). The protocol is known as CWI (Contrast Water Immersion) which enhances recovery between repeated bouts of maximal physical activity. We'll keep the hot tub at 98 degrees and the cold tub at 70 degrees. After each all-out effort the girls will swim an easy 200 (three minutes of active rest), then drink two ounces of low-fat chocolate milk (the carbs will replenish glycogen stores in the muscles while the protein will repair and build muscle), then immerse themselves in the cold water (to keep the swelling down of those working muscles) and finally sit in the warm water to stretch for 30 seconds before the next all-out repeat.

Loyola Marymount University 117
ALASKA 87

ALASKA swimmers fared better in Sunday's match-up with Loyola Marymount winning 6 events and cutting the margin of LMU's victory to 30 points (Saturday's meet resulted in a 50 point deficit).

Once again Nanook swimmers won the opening medley relay, this time the sprint version (200 yd Medley Relay). Jacqueline van Driessche, Mariya Pavlovskaya, Kelly Becker and Karin Wagner broke the Patty Pool record with their 1:54.64 effort beating LMU by just under a second. Alaska's "B" team of Abbey Jackson, Courtney Miller, Kathryn Niemi and Erin Widby finished in 4th place.

And once again Alaska's best distance swimmer, Sam Zinsli, went head-to-head with Loyola's best in the 1000 yd Freestyle event. Rebecca Plume outsprinted Zinsli at the end with Nanook swimmer's Kinsey Laine finishing in 3rd place with a lifetime best and Joann Kump finishing in 4th.

Nanook Kelly Becker fared slightly better in the 200 yd Freestyle finishing 2nd just under a second behind LMU's Alex Wike. Heidi Tilicki and Kathryn Niemi finished 5th and 6th.

In the 50 yd Freestyle LMU's sprint corp once again finished 1-2-3 with Nanook swimmers Karin Wagner and Tori Reiss finishing in 5th and 6th places respectively.

Nanook freshman phenom Mariya Pavlovskaya once again schooled the rest of the pool in the long version of the Individual Medley, winning the 400 yd IM in a Varsity and Pool Record, 4:42.93. Kinsey Laine and Amanda Hartman finished in 4th and 6th place respectively.

All-American flyer Kelly Becker kept her record perfect this year winning Alaska's 3rd event of the morning with a two second win over LMU swimmer Melanie Tansuwan. Heidi Tilicki and Abbey Jackson finished 5th and 6th.

Following up their dominance in the sprint freestyle events, LMU swimmers swept the 100 yd Freestyle while Karin Wagner, Erin Widby and Tori Reiss finished in 4th, 5th and 6th places.

Nanook swimmers ruled the backstroke events this weekend. In yesterday's meet Pavlovskaya proved unbeatable in the 200 yd version and today van Driessche ruled the day in the 100 yard event. Kathryn Niemi and Abbey Jackson finished in 5th and 6th places.

Junior Sam Zinsli extracted some revenge in the 500 yd Freestyle making quick work of LMU swimmer Alicia Witter while Heidi Tilicki outswam Lion swimmer Trinity O'Neill to finish 3rd. Joann Kump finished in 5th place.

Pavlovskaya won the Nanook's 6th and last event with a spirited race in the 100 yd Breaststroke. Courtney Miller and Amanda Hartman finished in 5th and 6th places respectively.

In the last event of the morning, Loyola again showed its speed placing 1st and 2nd in the 400 yd Freestyle Relay. Nanook "A" team members van Driessche, Laine, Zinsli and Wagner finished in 3rd place while "B" team members Widby, Hartman, Miller and Reiss finished 4th.

Loyola Marymount University 127
ALASKA 78

Nanook swimmers won 5 of the first 8 events this evening in a match up with the best Division I women's team in the PCSC Conference. Jacqueline van Driessche, Mariya Pavlovskaya, Kelly Becker and Sam Zinsli opened the meet with a decisive win over LMU's best four swimmers in the 400 yd Medley Relay. Finishing with a time less than a second off their Varsity Record (set at the PCSC Conference Championships last February) and breaking the pool record by two seconds, the Nanooks made a strong statement by covering all four strokes in impressive fashion. Alaska swimmers and coaches have spoken openly of their desire to qualify a relay for the NCAA Division II National Championships and this looks like it might be the one. Alaska's "B" relay of Kathryn Niemi, Courtney Miller, Abbey Jackson and Karin Wagner placed 4th.

In the second event, freshman Kinsey Laine caught and passed LMU distance star, Rebecca Plume, in the mile and ended up winning by over 10 seconds dropping over a minute off her lifetime best in the process. Another Nanook freshman distance ace, freshman Heidi Tilicki, also recorded a best time placing third in the event and Nanook Junior, Joann Kump, finished 5th.

In the closest race of the meet, sophomore Kelly Becker finished 3rd in the 200 yd Freestyle just one half second behind LMU swimmer Alicia Witter and only .23 of a second behind 2nd place LMU finisher Megan Sawelson. Alaska swimmers Erin Widby and Abbey Jackson finished 5th and 6th.

In another close race, senior Karin Wagner was just touched out by two LMU sprinters to finish 3rd in the 50 yd Freestyle (26.48). Nanook Tori Reiss finished in 5th place.

Alaska swimmers bounced back by winning their 3rd event of the meet when freshman Mariya Pavlovskaya beat LMU swimmer Angela Samuels in the 200 yd IM and broke both the Nanook's Varsity Record and the Patty Pool Record. Her time of 2:13.79 was less than two seconds off the NCAA "B" qualifying time standard, the so called "consideration" time for competing at the Division II National Championships. That time replaces the 2:15.05 recorded by Nanook Booster Club President, Mia Costello, who was the fastest female IMer to swim at Patty Pool from November of 1983 until today. Costello was representing West High School of Anchorage at the Alaska State High School Championships which were held in Fairbanks that year. Finishing in 5th place for the Nanooks and recording a lifetime best was freshman Courtney Miller. Amanda Hartman finished in 6th place.

Recording the Nanook's first NCAA "B" time of the year, Kelly Becker then won the 200 yd Butterfly with a Pool Record 2:10.06. Last year Becker was an All-American in this event. Courtney Miller finished in 5th with a lifetime best and Joann Kump finished in 6th with a lifetime best.

Loyola swimmers showed their depth in the sprints by finishing 1-2-3 in the 100 yd Freestyle event. Sophomore Jacqueline van Driessche was edged out of 3rd place by just .07 of a second finishing 4th with a 57.14. Erin Widby and Tori Reiss placed 5th and 6th respectively.

In Alaska swimmers' fifth win of the evening, Russian swimmer Pavlovskaya handily beat the competition by breaking another Varisty and Pool Record in the 200 yd Backstroke. Her time of 2:11.77 was a little over a second off the NCAA "B" time standard. Sophomore Kathryn Niemi finished in 4th place and Junior Amanda Hartman finished in 6th.

Loyola swimmers showed they could swim distance as well by winning the 500 yd Freestyle with LMU distance star Rebecca Plume overtaking Nanook distance ace Sam Zinsli in the last 100 yards of the race. Kinsey Laine finished in 5th and Freshman Abbey Jackson finished in 6th.

In the last individual event of the evening, LMU swimmers showed their depth by again finishing 1-2-3 this time in the 200 yd Breaststroke. Courtney Miller recorded a lifetime best finishing in 4th while Heidi Tilicki recorded a lifetime best finishing in 5th. Nanook Joann Kump finished 6th.

In the final event of the meet, Loyola proved to be too much for the Nanooks winning the 200 yd Freestyle Relay and breaking a 21 year old Pool Record in the process. Alaska swimmers van Driessche, Laine, Zinsli and Wagner finished in 2nd place while the Nanook "B" team of Widby, Niemi, Hartman and Reiss were 4th.

In the two years since Alaska swimmers have met LMU swimmers in competition, the Los Angeles based team has made great strides. They've steadily moved up in the PCSC Conference standings until last year's championship where they finished 2nd, right behind Division II powerhouse, UC San Diego. In those same two years, Alaska has narrowed the gap between the two programs so that now in almost every event, the difference between the two teams is measured in tenths of a second, not lengths of the pool.

Sunday morning at 9:30 am the Nanooks take on the Loyola Lions in the short dual meet format. DON'T MISS IT!

Relay teams fare well on Day Two of PCSC Invitational

Jacqueline van Driessche dives in at the start of her 50 freestyle.

Saturday's relay meet went much better than Friday's pentathlons. Our swimmers had 10 blissful hours of sleep and a dinner and breakfast under their belts when they hit the water at 11 am this morning. When all was said and done, the Nanooks finished 6th out of 9 teams; not bad considering all 12 swimmers were STILL feeling some lingering effects from their brutal travel itinerary and the team had half as many swimmers as the next smallest team. Almost every team at the meet had at least two dozen swimmers; several teams were represented by over 30 swimmers.

The highlight of the relay meet was probably the 4th place finish of the Nanook's 400 medley relay team made up of Jacqueline van Driessche, Mariya Pavlovskaya, Kelly Becker and Sam Zinsli. Their time of 4:11.92 was only 5 seconds off the Varsity Team Record set at last year's conference championships. Sam Zinsli and Kelly Becker also teamed up with freshman Kinsey Laine to finish 4th in the 3 x 500 freestyle relay, an event rarely contested outside of relay invitationals.

Finally, the team of Becker, Zinsli, Laine and Pavlovskaya finished in 5th place in the 800 free relay with a time of 8:12.85. The Varsity Team Record is 8:08.24 set last November at the Speedo Cup.

Look here for full results from the relay invitational.

Pavlovskaya triumphs over adversity on Day One

Mariya Pavlovskaya warms up for the distance pentathlon.

Freshman Mariya Pavlovskaya, like her teammates, hadn't slept in close to 40 hours when she hit the pool Friday. After being up since 4:00 am that morning, the team took the 8:30 pm flight out of Fairbanks and then the 1:00 am flight (red-eye) out of Anchorage and then the 6:30 am flight out of Seattle to finally arrive at LAX Friday morning. That flight schedule didn't allow the swimmers to sleep in a bed or have a decent meal prior to swimming in the meet in Riverside, California, Friday afternoon. In addition, Pavlovskaya had a cold which put intense pressure on her sinuses when the team landed in Seattle. All 12 swimmers had to reach down and find a strength of spirit their coaches were very pleased to see though probably won't require them to repeat in the future, especially for more important meets.

Pavlovskaya was the youngest swimmer at the meet and showed she was possibly the most talented and probably the toughest as well. With the majority of the 120+ women entered in the meet opting for the easier of the Individual Medley pentathlons (the sprint format) and/or the freestyle pentathlon, only 30 women entered the longer of the two IM format pentathlons. Though she struggled to feel good about her times, the young Russian swimmer finished in 2nd place overall with only a Division I swimmer able to beat her. She'll receive a nice engraved mug for her achievement at the beginning of the relay meet Saturday. Freshman Heidi Tilicki finished very well in that same format with a 19th place result.

In the freestyle pentathlon Junior Sam Zinsli had the highest finish of the six Nanooks who entered that format ending up in 12th place out of nearly 60 swimmers. Sophomore Kelly Becker was the 20th fastest freestyler while freshman Kinsey Laine was 26th and Sophomore Jacqueline van Driessche was 28th.

Look here for the full results of the three pentathlons.

Kinsey Laine had a great meet last weekend. She was part of our 4th place 3 x 500 free relay (along with Sam Zinsli and Kelly Becker) and our 5th place 800 free relay (with Sam, Kelly and Mariya Pavlovskaya).

PCSC Pentathlon / Relays

We're on the road this weekend (October 12/13) to compete at the new PCSC Pentathlon / Relay Invitational. Cal Baptist is the host school and the meet is being held in Riverside. Most of the teams in our conference are attending - Cal Baptist, Seattle University, Biola, Pepperdine, Cal State Bakersfield and Loyola Marymount University.

On Friday swimmers can pick the Sprint IM (50 of each stroke and the 100 IM), Distance IM (100 of each stroke and 200 IM) or Freestyle Penatathlon (25, 50, 100, 200 and 500 freestyles). The top 10 swimmers in each category will be recognized with engraved mugs. Saturday is the relay invitational and will showcase the five competitive relays (200/400 medleys and 200/400/800 freestyles) in addition to favorites such as the 4 x 100 IM relay, 3 x 100 fly, etc.

Mariya Pavolvskaya speaks with her mother in Russia using a video conference link.

Coaches Scott Lemley and Heather King talk strategy while their swimmers stretch out in the pool.

2007 Blue Gold Meet

We just conducted our Annual Blue-Gold Intrasquad Meet (Saturday, October 6). Results can be found here! Everyone was fairly tired to begin with and we ran through the meet very quickly. Having said that, the swimmers looked very strong though not necessarily fast yet. We certainly were able to use the opportunity to see where our conditioning was and the consensus was we're still building endurance.

2006 - 2007 Team Award Winners

Most Improved: Sam Zinsli

Most Valuable: Kelly Becker

Most Inspirational: Katie Mohrmann

John C. Gilmore Scholastic Award: Katie Mohrmann

In addition, last semester the Nanooks were named Academic Team All-Americans with a rating of "excellent" due to our 3.08 team GPA. Congratulations ladies!

Our competition schedule is now set for next season!