No. 21 swimming beats Puget Sound, falls to No. 15 Simon Fraser
January 14, 2013
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Just 24 hours removed from departing Flagstaff, Ariz., following the annual elevation training trip, the 21st-ranked Alaska women's swim team split in its tri-meet, downing Puget Sound 80-37 and falling 75-44 to No. 15 Simon Fraser on Saturday afternoon at SFU's Paul and Margaret Savage Pool.
Three Nanooks (3-3) won individual events and one relay and Alaska also placed second in two races and third in four others. The Clan (4-0) was victorious in nine individual events and one relay and swept the top three spots in a pair of races.
“The meet ended up about how we thought it would,” head coach Scott Lemley said. “We had one day off between high altitude training and competition and that turned out to be a fairly stressful travel day.”
Junior Bente Heller (Hamburg, Germany/Psychology) and sophomores Margot Adams (Anchorage, Alaska/Political science) and Danielle Lyons (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan/Biological sciences) led the way for the Nanooks as each won one event and were part of a first-place relay squad.
Heller was first in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 59.28 seconds, just out touching SFU's Nicole Cossey (59.43), who holds the 100 yard free record at the Patty Center Pool from when the Clan came to Fairbanks two years ago. Heller also took third in the 50 free (27.04).
“Bente went head to head with Nicole, who holds our pool record in the 100 freestyle and beat her,” Lemley said “That was the first time Bente has been under a minute in the short course meter version of the 100 free (an event she swam often in Germany).”
Adams took the 100 butterfly in 1:04.80 in a tight race against Alexandria Schofield of SFU (1:05.63). Adams also placed second in the 200 fly with a time of 2:26.54. Lyons rounded out the individual races with a victory in the 200 individual medley by over three and a half seconds with a mark of 2:30.53 and added a runner-up showing in the 200 free (2:13.58).
Heller, Adams and Lyons, along with sophomore Gabi Summers (Cheyenne, Wyo./Wildlife Biology and Conservation), won the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:51.23 while Alaska's foursome of senior Meghan O'Leary (Seward, Alaska/Biology) and sophomores Kelly Meierotto (North Pole, Alaska/Anthropology), Kendra Ashwell (Kenai, Alaska/General studies) and Genevieve Johnson (Fresno, Calif./Fisheries and Biology) was second in 2:01.65.
In the opening race, Alaska took second in the 200 medley relay as Summers, freshman Eileen Audette (Seward, Alaska/Fisheries), Adams and Heller hit the wall in 2:04.52. Other contributing swims included Mullin's third-place swim in the 800 free (10:02.69), Summers' third-place finish in the 100 backstroke (1:09.24) and another third by freshman Linnea Doumas (Tucson, Ariz./Foreign languages) in the 200 back (2:34.36).
SFU had nine different individuals win races and swept the top three in the 200 back and 200 breaststroke. UPS had one second and two thirds in individual races as well as a third-place finish in the 200 free relay.
“All in all, I just wanted the girls to race regardless of the outcome,” Lemley said. “SFU is ranked ahead of us nationally and it showed. With a couple days of real rest and a couple weeks getting back into our routine, I think the outcome will be different when they visit us at the end of the month.”
Alaska returns to action on Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. and Jan. 26 at noon when it hosts Simon Fraser at the Patty Center Pool. Admission is free for both meets.