Idaho took the first and the final event, but it wasn’t enough for Idaho to keep it close in a swim and dive meet at Northern Arizona, who is possibly the Western Athletic Conference favorite.
Getting dealt their first conference loss 175-125 on Saturday, the Vandals couldn’t come up with enough second, third or fourth place finishes in events they won to be able to top the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.
Junior Rachel Millet was again dominant, winning all four of her events, but it wasn’t enough for Idaho. The Vandals are 1-1 in conference play, taking on Seattle U on the road next Saturday. Millet has yet to lose a single event this season.
“We knew that this would be tremendous challenge, this team doesn’t lose often at home,” Idaho coach Mark Sowa said. “Now we will get back work on Monday and prepare for a good Seattle team next Saturday. We still have a lot to do.”
The Lumberjacks were able to pull away from the Vandal lead, thanks to their ability to finish second, third and fourth in four events that Idaho won. Idaho couldn’t find a second place finisher in any event it took first place in. The Vandals took eight events, including the 400-meter medley relay that opened the meet. Northern Arizona took three of the next four events to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Northern Arizona, in turn, was able to take the top three spots in four different events.
“This could arguably be the biggest home pool advantage of any team in the country and I feel like we did not let that affect us too much,” Sowa said. “We went head to head with the team that may be favored to win the conference.”
Millet’s four event wins came in the 200- freestyle, the 400 medley relay, 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley.
The Vandals were able to split the 16 events by also winning the 600 butterly, 100 freestyle, the 200 freestyle and the 3-meter diving event.
Senior diver Paige Hunt broke her own school record during the 3-meter dive with a score of 322.93, breaking the previous school record of 319.05.
Northern Arizona is a conference favorite, one who Idaho may need to be able to top in order to compete at the conference championship in February in San Antonio .
“Idaho is a really good team and we’re going to have a big battle with them in Texas (for the WAC Championships) at the end of February,” Northern Arizona coach Andy Johns said.
Before facing NAU, Idaho beat Grand Canyon, another conference opponent, on Friday. Both meets were on the road.
The Vandals beat Grand Canyon 153-108 on the back of Millet’s sweep in all her events. Millet was part of the winning 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle, 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle.
“As always, it is nice to get a win against a conference opponent,” Coach Mark Sowa said. “We knew that we would face some challenges racing a very good team but we continue to talk about embracing challenges and learning from them. This was a nice step.”
Idaho is 2-1 in conference play and has two conference meets left, going to Seattle on Saturday and at New Mexico State on Jan. 18. Idaho will also head to the Houston Invitational on Nov. 22.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]