Northern Colorado vs New Mexico State (W)
- Friday, October 14, 2022
- Greeley, Colo.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Final Score: Northern Colorado 166, New Mexico State 77
Courtesy: Northern Colorado Athletics
GREELEY, Colo.—Winning 10 of the 13 events, the Northern Colorado women’s swimming & diving team dominated action with a 166-77 win against New Mexico State on Friday.
The dual not only represented the home debut of the Bear for the 2022-23 season, but the opening event of the Western Athletic Conference season.
Beginning with a 1-2 finish in the 400-yard medley relay, Northern Colorado won the first eight events in the pool. Saana Liikonen took home gold in two of the individual events with wins in the 200 free (1:57.15) and the 100 free (53.04). In addition, Liikonen was a member of the 200 freestyle relay that closed out the dual by edging the NMSU quartet 1:38.57 to 1:38.78.
Other event winners for UNC included: Anna Austin (1,000 free), Natalie Kayfes (200 free). Katelyn Bergin (200 IM), Payten Irwin (200 fly), and Maria Erokhina (200 breast).
In the dives, Madison Berg took first at 1-meter before settling for silver in the 3-meter.
Overall, 15 season bests were established by the UNC swim & dive team.
The Bears will host two more duals over the next week with Wyoming (Oct. 20) and Utah Tech (Oct. 21) coming to compete in the Butler-Hancock Pool. Admission is free for all regular season swimming & diving events.
Courtesy: New Mexico State Athletics
GREELEY, Colo. – NM State hit the road for its first meet away from home of the 2022-23 campaign. The Aggies were bested by a tough Northern Colorado squad – falling 166-77.
The Aggies were led by a pair of freshmen in Thea Masselink and Naomi Slee who each landed a first-place finish in the dual meet against their WAC counterpart.
SWIMMING
- Freshman standout Thea Masselink posted the Aggies’ first win of the weekend as she reached the wall first in the 200 back (2:08.24).
- Fellow freshman Naomi Slee followed her two-win weekend against North Texas with a first-place finish in the 500 free (5:13.48) and a second-place finish in the 1000 free by posting a time of 10:45.83.
- Two events later, senior Aimee Burton tallied another silver for the Aggies as she came in second in the 50 free (24.20).
- Later, Lindsay Puhalski recorded her second top-three finish of the day as she finished second in the 100 free (55.24) after finishing in third in the 200 free (1:58.73).
- In the final event of the day, the team of Aimee Burton, Kira Brownell, Elizabeth Cervantes-Vanderlugt and Naomi Slee posted a time of 1:38.78 to finish second in the 200 free relay.
DIVING
- In the first diving event of the afternoon, Italia Aranzabal posted a final score of 235.79 to come in second place.
- Aranzabal was also the top Aggie diver in the three-meter event as she landed the top spot with a finals score of 194.16.
QUOTABLE | Head Coach Rick Pratt
“Today was a tough loss but, despite the travel and end results, the team kept fighting through the finish and there were many lessons we learned today. Tomorrow’s a new day and hopefully, we can find our legs”.