2023 NAU Intrasquad
- October 13, 2023
- Flagstaff, Ariz.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: NAU Athletics
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 13, 2023) – It was back to familiar ways for the NAU Blue team in the program’s 41st annual Blue vs. Gold intrasquad meet. The squad, captained by seniors Annie Carlton and Sophie Velitchkov, took home bragging rights, defeating the Gold team 62-42 at Wall Aquatic Center on Friday afternoon.
“I loved the energy, attitude and effort of our team today,” head coach Andy Johns said. “We had some pretty decent performances, and I hope that will translate over to Idaho next week.”
Boosted by six first place finishes in the 10 swimming events, the 2023 edition of the Blue vs. Gold scrimmage featured the Blue team’s largest margin of victory at the event since 2021 and the second time in the last six years that the score has been 62-42 in favor of the Blue team.
In addition to the intrasquad competition, swimmers from Arizona Christian’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs competed in events alongside the Lumberjacks.
Right out of the gates, the Blue team was off to a fast start, taking the first seven points by winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:45.40, defeating their Gold counterparts by more than four seconds.
Gold would strike right back as Bena Koehn, who won the 100 freestyle at the Pentathlon three weeks earlier, took first prize in the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:53.98 performance. The Gold team took six of the nine points from the day’s second event to get within four at 10-6.
Koehn ended the day with two first-place finishes, the aforementioned 200 freestyle, and she would repeat her success from the pentathlon, winning the 100 freestyle again.
The 200-yard individual medley followed, and the Gold team, led by senior Abigail Tashlein’s 2:12.11, had top billing for a second consecutive Gold first-place finish.
Velitchkov would end the streak by winning the 50-yard freestyle with a mark of 24.04 seconds.
Living up to its team name, the gold group took care of business during the diving breaks. The Gold ‘A’ group of Margaret Wesche and Reaney Preston won both diving events at the scrimmage.
“It was kind of cool to see them have to depend on each other and do some different dives,” head diving coach Nikki Kelsey said. “It was fun, and for Blue and Gold, you never know what you are going to get because everyone is getting their dives back and getting back into the swing of things. They all did a great job, and we are excited to get the season started.”
Sophomore Elsa Musselman, who took the 2023 NAU Pentathlon crown on Sept. 22, edged out the Gold team’s Maddy Rey by 1.04 seconds to claim the best time in the 150-yard butterfly.
Rey would end the day with a first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:07.97.
Blue would claim two of the top three spots in the next two events, the 150-yard backstroke and the 500-yard freestyle. The Blue team got first and second in the 150 backstroke from Gracie Munk and Carlton before Casey Craffey and Helena Robla-Alvarez would finish two and three in the 500 free.
The last individual event of the day would be won by the Blue team’s Cydnie Perkins in the 150-yard breaststroke with a 1:44.90 before the Blue group would win its second relay event on the afternoon.
The intrasquad scrimmage was the last bit of preparation for the Lumberjacks before beginning the season next Friday at Idaho.
“Idaho had a great meet last weekend against Grand Canyon. We will have to be on our game next week, and I think it will be a really good meet, and we look forward to the competition,” Johns said.