The University of Denver women’s swimming and diving team defeated Air Force Saturday, 139-104 at El Pomar Natatorium. The Pioneers wore pink to raise awareness for breast and lung cancer.
“We’re always excited to pick up a win,” head coach Brian Schrader said. “I think Air Force brought a good challenge today and our girls responded event by event which was fun to watch.”
Winning nine out of 13 events, Denver put up leading times early on in the meet. The women swimmers opened by claiming the top spot in the 400 medley relay (3:50.53). Made up of freshmen Johanna Roas (Munich, Germany) and Amanda Sanders(Littleton, Colo.) and juniors Drew Matthews (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) and Samantha Corea (Vancouver, British Columbia), the relay team beat the second place Air Force group by three seconds.
Performing well for the third week in a row was junior Bridgette McNally (Lone Tree, Colo.). McNally won both the 200 freestyle (1:51.53) and the 200 backstroke (2:00.48). Also posting top times for the Pioneers were Zoe Huddleston (Rothschild, Wis.) who won the 50 freestyle (24.02), Matthews who claimed the 200 butterfly (2:09.58) and Roas who got first in the 100 freestyle (51:73). Corea, Roas, Huddleston and Matthews closed the meet on a high point, winning the 400 freestyle relay (3:29.48).
“The women are making each other better and in meets, and that’s really a good sign of building a great team,” Schrader said. “It was a fun win for us today and we just have to make sure we get a good three weeks of training in before we go to Iowa. But I’m excited to see what that will bring because I think we’ve been doing what we need to do.”
Women’s diving also did exceptionally well versus Air Force. In the first event of the meet, 3-meter diving, junior Dana Gau (Waukesha, Wis.) claimed the top score with a 248.25. Next, freshman Cat Badillo (Elizabeth, Colo.) won first place and broke a school record with her 1-meter diving score of 274.28.
“I was very proud of all three DU divers today,” head diving coach Channing Kimball said. “They are working hard to make corrections to their dives and score more points at each meet. It was very exciting to have Cat get another Zone cut and break the pool record on 1-meter.”
Denver swimming and diving closes the fall season at the University of Iowa Invite on Friday, Dec. 6 in Iowa City, Iowa.
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This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of Denver Swimming and Diving.