The Idaho swimming and diving team had a strong performance Saturday despite falling to Northern Arizona 155.5 to 133.5 in Flagstaff.
The Vandals fell behind early, but battled back to come within 22 points of NAU and finished strong, winning the last four events of the day.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge going,” Idaho coach Mark Sowa said. “(NAU) is a good team, they’re well-coached.”
The Lumberjacks were competing in their first meet of the season, which also served as senior night, while the Vandals came in with two meets behind them.
“We knew they would come out with a lot of excitement,” Sowa said. “We knew Northern Arizona had a pretty big home (pool) advantage.”
Despite a home advantage and 7,000-foot elevation, the Vandals were competitive throughout the meet.
“I think the elevation affected us a lot more in the longer races than the shorter races but I never heard one athlete talk about it after the race,” Sowa said. “The focus was on the competition rather than what the elevation was doing to us.”
Freshman Rachel Millett was one of the top finishers for the Vandals for the second meet in a row. Two weeks after winning three events in Seattle, Millett won two more. She took first in the 100 free and 200 IM in 58.45 and 2:26.60. Millett also finished second in the 200 free and was part of the second-place 200 medley relay team with freshman Erica Anderson, junior Kelsie Saxe and senior Si Jia Pang.
Anderson and Pang also swam for the winning 400 free relay team. They were joined by senior Katie Hendricks and sophomore Megan Venlos to finish with a final time of 4:01.24. Sowa said the victory was a good way to close the meet.
Junior Paige Hunt placed third in the one-meter dive and first in the three-meter dive with scores of 252.98 and 264.60.
“Paige Hunt, on the diving boards, did very well,” Sowa said. “She was 0.4 points from making the NCAA Zone Meet.”
Hunt, who is originally from Arizona, had family and friends cheering her on from the stands. The Vandals will continue to improve on their starts and turns throughout the season but one thing they don’t lack is competitive spirit.
“I don’t question their competitiveness,” Sowa said. “We just need to be a little more focused in races at times. The nice thing is, these girls are competitive, they don’t back down. We had every reason to roll over at this meet and they never did.”