Arizona Downs NAU & WSU, NAU Beats WSU For 3rd Time In Program History

Arizona vs. NAU vs. Washington State

• January 13th, 2023
• Tucson, Arizona
• SCY (25 yards)
• Team Scores:
  • NAU def. Washington State 178-116
  • Arizona def. NAU 180-120
  • Arizona def. Washington State 185.5-108.5
• Full Results

The University of Arizona women hosted in-state Northern Arizona (NAU) and Pac-12 rival Washington State for a tri-meet on Friday. The Wildcats came away with two victories, while NAU topped the Washington State Cougars for the third time in program history.

Junior Julia Heimstead and freshman Alyssa Schwengel led the way for Arizona, as they picked up two individual wins apiece. Heimstead opened with a dominating performance in the 200 free, posting a 1:49.65 to win the event by nearly 3 seconds. She also won the 100 fly, touching first at 54.84.

Schwengel swept the sprint freestyle events for Arizona. She narrowly beat teammate Riley Botton in the 50, out-touching her by just 0.09 hundredths (23.72). In the 100, Schwengel took first over Washington State’s Angela Di Palo by a little over half a second, clocking a 51.35. 

Arizona also swept the relays, as Paige Armstrong (26.56) and Kennedy Fisher (28.86) combined with Heimstead (24.32) and Schwengel (23.00) to win the 200 medley relay in 1:42.74. Heimstead also led off Arizona’s winning 400 freestyle relay in a 51.54, and was joined by Botton (51.63), Tia Lindsay (51.81), and Schwengel (50.46) for a final time of 3:25.44.

Northern Arizona came away with their first win over Washington State since 2011. Sophomore Casey Craffey and junior Francesca Criscione opened the meet for the Lumberjacks with a 1-2 finish in the 1000. Craffey clocked a 10:18.81, while Criscione touched the wall at 10:25.64. 

The distance dominance continued later on for NAU, as junior Maddy Rey won the 500 free by over 4 seconds. She clocked a 5:00.02, with Arizona’s Lindsay taking 2nd in 5:04.26.

Another standout for NAU was freshman Gracie Munk, who swept the backstroke events. Munk grabbed first in the 100 back by four tenths over Arizona’s Armstrong, clocking a 56.25. In the 200 back, she beat out Armstrong again, but this time winning by nearly two seconds (2:01.47). 

The breaststroke events belonged to Washington State, as freshman Emily Lundgren snagged victories in both the 100 and 200. She beat Arizona’s Kelly Wetteland in the 200 by just under a second, as she touched the wall first at 2:16.35. In the 100, Lundgren posted a 1:04.05, just three tenths quicker than runner-up Fisher (1:04.34).

Dori Hathazi also picked up an individual win for the Cougars in the 200 fly. Hathazi, the school record holder in this event, posted a 2:02.28 to win by more than a second over Arizona’s Daisy Anderson (2:03.81).

On the boards, it was just NAU and Arizona competing as Washington State does not have a diving program. U.S. Olympian Delaney Schnell dominated both events for Arizona, winning 1-meter with 306.53 points and 3-meter with 393.45 points. 

Up next, Arizona will host Cal and Stanford for their final two home meets of the season. NAU will head north to take on Utah Tech, while Washington State will also head to Utah to take on the University of Utah.