Three records were broken as five Vandals competed from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 at the AT&T Winter Nationals in Austin, Texas. Standout sophomore Rachel Millet was the top Vandal performer and responsible for all three broken Idaho records. The other Vandal swimmers were senior Kelsie Saxe, sophomore Laura Griffing and freshmen Janelle Stacy and Jamie Sterbis.
The meet featured several Olympic athletes and the best collegiate teams from around the nation. The University of Southern California won the women’s collegiate meet with 422.50 points. Idaho was one of several scoreless teams, but Sowa was still impressed with his swimmers.
“We had some really encouraging performances today that I know will carry over into the second half of the season,” coach Mark Sowa said. “Rachel finished a great meet and Kelsie was much better than she was two weeks ago. Jamie had another really good 200 fly at her first national level meet. These Vandals learned a ton and represented Idaho well.”
Millet had one Vandal record for each day of the meet. Her first record-breaking swim came on Thursday in the 200-yard individual medley. Her time of 2:03.60 minutes placed her 38th in the very competitive field. Millet now owns Idaho records in five separate events.
“It was a good morning swim for Rachel,” coach Mark Sowa said of her 200-yard IM. “We really liked her first half of the race. Her breaststroke needs to improve so that gives us something to focus on as we get back to training.”
She went on to break her own records in the 200-yard freestyle on Friday in 1:49.23 and the 100-yard freestyle on Saturday in 50.26. Millet finished 29th in the 200-yard freestyle — an event won by Olympic distance medalist Katie Ledecky — and 27th in the 100-yard freestyle.
Idaho’s breaststrokers Kelsie Saxe and Laura Griffing also competed on Friday. Saxe swam a 1:05.01 in the 100-yard breaststroke to finish just ahead of teammate Laura Griffing, who finished less than a tenth of a second later at 1:05.10.
On Saturday, Saxe competed again clocking 2:20.54 in the 200-yard breaststroke while Jamie Sterbis finished in 2:02.38 in the 200-yard butterfly for Idaho.
The Vandals’ next competition is Jan. 19, when they host WAC foe New Mexico State University in Moscow.
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]