KEARNEY, Neb. Western Colorado swimming & diving won six of the nine events Friday at the University of Nebraska Kearney Distance Meet, taking the title over the host Lopers with a score of 520 points.
JUST THE FACTS
Team scores: 1 – Western Colorado (520 pts.), 2 – Neb.-Kearney (474), 3 – CSU Pueblo (267), 4 – Barton (Kan.) CC (109)
Location: Kearney High School, Kearney, Neb.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Western's 400-yard medley relay raced to a first-place finish in the meet's opening event as Riley Taylor, Ella Fries, Joanna Swiderska and Makenna Lambert combined for a winning time of 4 minutes, 1.61 seconds, four seconds in front of the runner-up foursome from UNK.
- AvaMarie Hopewell added another first place in the initial individual event, touching the pad first in the 1,000 freestyle in a time of 11:12.60.
- CSU Pueblo's Paola C Wu and the Mountaineers' Leah Wagner battled to the finish in the 400 individual medley, but C Wu (4:44.36) out touched Wagner (4:44.55) by 2/10ths of a second for the win.
- The divers took center stage in the next event, the 1-meter (6 optionals) event, with the Mountaineers sweeping the podium. Chloe Brown achieved an NCAA Pre-Championship Qualification Meet standard by winning the event with 263.80 points. Teammate Alexandra Wallis just missed the standard in taking second with 253.25 points, while Ashlynn Mixon set a personal best with 199.45 points to take third.
- The Mountaineers picked up another first place after action got back up on the blocks. Joanna Swiderska led a 1-2 finish in the 200 butterfly, winning with a time of 2:13.60. Teammate Adessa Talbot, who earlier in the meet was fourth in the 400 IM, came in second, touching one second behind in 2:14.76.
- Lambert hopped into the pool for a secondary event, the 200 backstroke, and nearly won the race, coming in second with a time of 2:13.08, just a half second behind the winner from CSU Pueblo.
- Wagner again was in a battle for first place in the next event, the 200 breaststroke, but this time it was with teammate Trinity Caudle. Wagner (2:19.13) took first with Caudle (2:30.85) right behind in second place.
- The Lopers edged out the Mountaineers in the 400 medley relay, taking first (3:39.90) less than a second ahead of Western's quartet of Madi Zach, Swiderska, Morgan Nielsen and Lambert, who touched second in 3:40.46.
- The final event on the meet schedule was the 1,650 free, and Nielsen was all warmed up from her relay swim minutes before. The 2024 NCAA qualifier raced away from the field, winning the event in a time of 18:15.49. Sidney-Ann Morris made it a 1-2 finish for Western as the runner-up touched in 19:03.38.
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will try to sweep the weekend, competing Saturday in the UNK Sprint Meet, a prelims/finals competition hosted again at the Kearney HS pool.
