Emerald City rivalry in Moscow – Idaho’s diving duo highlights first, second day of WAC Championships

Two days into the WAC Swimming and Diving Championships, an Idaho diving duo put the Vandals in a good position moving forward. Seniors Mairin Jameson and Paige Hunt went 1-2 in the 1-meter dive with scores of 312.25 and 304.95 respectively, on Wednesday in San Antonio.

File photo by Philip Vukelich | Argonaut Vandal swimmer Rachel Peterson competes in a swim meet against Oregon State Jan. 25 in the UI Swim Center. The Vandals are in second place through two days at WAC Swimming and Diving Championships in San Antonio.

File photo by Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Vandal swimmer Rachel Peterson competes in a swim meet against Oregon State Jan. 25 in the UI Swim Center. The Vandals are in second place through two days at WAC Swimming and Diving Championships in San Antonio.

“Our divers were phenomenal,” Idaho coach Mark Sowa said. “Mairin dove the board of her life and Paige pushed her to the end. Watching those two has been a pleasure.”

Idaho finished Wednesday, the first day of the four-day championship meet, in a tie for first with Northern Arizona at 106 points. Northern Arizona was the only WAC team to beat Idaho in the regular season.

The Vandals fell to second after Thursday’s competition. Northern Arizona finished the second day in first with 273 points, while Idaho sat in second with 267. The Vandals held a 63-point lead over third-place New Mexico State with two days left in the meet.

Jameson and Hunt were unstoppable on Thursday as well, again going 1-2 in a diving event. Jameson won the 3-meter dive with a score 332.15 to earn her second individual championship, while Hunt finished second with a score of 315.95.

On Wednesday, Idaho found success in the pool. The 200-yard medley relay team finished second behind Grand Canyon with a time of 1 minute, 40.93 seconds in the first women’s event of the meet. The relay team composed of junior Rachel Millet, junior Erica Anderson, freshman Taylor-Lee Strachan and senior Megan Venlos beat an Idaho record in the process.

“Erica and Taylor were awesome in particular and I am confident our 400 medley will be great on Friday,” Sowa said.

Millet continued her dominance on Thursday with a win in the 200 individual medley in 1:59.60. She was the only swimmer to finish in less than two minutes and she also broke her own previous Idaho record of 2:00.37 in the event.

The trend kept going when Anderson also broke her own Idaho record in a Thursday event, sealing a victory in the 50 freestyle in 23.08.

Idaho rounded out day two with a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.38. Millet started the race, Venlos swam leg two, junior Kirah Monks swam third and Anderson anchored the relay for Idaho.

Competition continues through Saturday in San Antonio.

Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]

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Stephan Wiebe Sports reporter Sophomore in journalism Can be reached at [email protected]

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