In a clash of conference opponents, Idaho swim and dive broke two school records and defeated Northern Arizona 177.5-122.5 Saturday at home.
“Northern Arizona is a very good team,” Idaho coach Mark Sowa said. “They’re very well coached, very well prepared. Historically, they’ve been very good against us. We’ve never beaten them, ever, as a program. Every win we get as a program we always value but anytime you get a win against someone you’ve never beaten before, it’s always pretty special.”
The Vandals dominated NAU, winning 13 of 16 events and breaking two school records in the process. The Lumberjacks won only one of the final 13 events in the meet.
“The girls were really focused, they were very determined and they were very competitive,” Sowa said. “When we do those things, we’re a pretty good team.”
The streak started when Idaho sophomore Rachel Millet won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:52.31 — an event where the Vandals scored 17 of 19 possible points. Millet also anchored the team’s winning 400-yard medley relay, won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.77 seconds and won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:04.17.
“Rachel Millet continues to impress,” Sowa said. “She’s only been beaten once this entire year. Her individual IM was a 10th of a second off our school record.”
An even more impressive Vandal performance came from freshman Jamie Sterbis who crushed the Idaho record in the 200-yard butterfly. Her time of 2:02.86 is a five-second personal best and three seconds faster than the previous record of 2:05.94, which was set last spring. Sterbis also won the 100-yard butterfly in 57.12 and participated in both of the winning Vandal relays.
“I think we’ve only scratched the surface of what Jamie can do,” Sowa said. “The lady she beat won the conference championship in the fly last year. So not only was that a record-breaking performance, that’s the kid she wants to beat (in the championship).”
The second record-breaking performance of the day came on the diving boards. After falling short in the 3-meter dive early in the meet, junior Paige Hunt broke her own school record in the 1-meter dive with a final score of 275.55.
“Paige Hunt is the best diver that we’ve ever had in this program,” Sowa said. “She continues to improve; she continues to be more consistent, which is a goal of her’s this year.”
Another Vandal with multiple victories was Idaho senior Kelsie Saxe. She swept the breaststroke events for Idaho winning the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:05.38, followed by a 2:23.34 win in the 200-yard breaststroke. Saxe also swam the second leg of the winning 400-yard medley relay.
“I think Kelsie Saxe, our senior breaststroke swimmer, was tremendous,” Sowa said. “Kelsie is a very good leader on our team … we really fed off of her leadership and her performances.”
The other Vandal victories came from freshmen Janelle Stacy and Sami Hendricks, and juniors Megan Venlos and Sammi Mischkot.
After beating NAU the Vandals are 2-0 at home this season against WAC competition, but won’t compete at home again until January. This week, the swimming and diving team travels to Houston, Texas, for the three-day Houston Invitational.
“Overall it wasn’t just the wins — this was an overall team effort,” Sowa said. “We talked earlier in the week about not waiting for our top performers to win events but our role players, our depth really taking a step forward and embracing the position they are in as well. That’s how we’re going to continue to get better and that’s what we saw this week.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]