With the help of two repetitive record-holding regional athletes, the Idaho Vandals swim and dive team defeated Western Athletic Conference rival New Mexico State, 154-144 Friday.
Spencer Farrin | Idaho Athletics Media Relations
Idaho sophomore Jamie Sterbis and New Mexico State’s Nicole Brennecke go head-to-head in the 200-yard butterfly race on Friday. Idaho won the dual meet, 154-144, while honoring the team’s seniors.
Sophomore Rachel Millet, from Spokane, Wash., dominated with a win in the 200-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke. Millet also helped her team win the 400-yard freestyle relay for the final event. The two Idaho relay teams earned 15 points combined in this event, while the two NMSU relay teams were disqualified.
Winning is nothing new for Millet, who has six school records under her belt, four personal records and was a part of two record-breaking relay teams. Coach Mark Sowa defines Millet as a team player above her personal accomplishments.
“Rachel would talk about her teammates more than she talks about herself,” Sowa said. “What you see with her performances is her day-to-day preparation which is very good. She’s always trying to get better and she is very thoughtful with her approach. She’s a great kid and we’re lucky to have her.”
Coming to Idaho as a transfer from Mesa Community College in Arizona, junior diver Paige Hunt made her presence known in Friday’s meet and made school history.
Hunt finished first in both the 3-meter and the 1-meter diving events, earning 18 points for the Vandals. All three school diving records belong to her but she insists that when it comes to her goals there is still no end in sight.
“I plan on breaking them again,” Hunt said. “It’s one of those things where you keep breaking your own — you know — just pushing yourself. My other goal is to make NCAA’s.”
Hunt’s 1-meter dive against NMSU was quite the nail-biter but she strategized a lower degree of difficulty for consistency.
“I can get higher dd but sometimes having high dd doesn’t matter as long as you can hit the lower dds for a higher score to add up the totals which will help in the long run,” Hunt said.
Unlike the 3-meter, Hunt said she was a bit unsure about the end-result for the 1 meter.
“Standing there, when they were adding the scores up, I didn’t know whether I would get first and the girl who got second had a higher dd than I did so that kind of shook me up a little bit,” Hunt said.
In a bittersweet victory on Senior Night in the Idaho Swim Center, teams and spectators honored two senior swimmers, Kelsie Saxe and Meaghan McCloskey, who competed in the final home meet of their Vandal careers.
In a grand finale, Saxe swam faster than she had all season in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races. She will leave Idaho as the best Vandal breaststroker of all time with school records in both categories.
McCloskey helped the Vandals earn four points in the 400-yard medley relay.
Aaron Wolfe can be reached at [email protected]