Idaho faces Pac-12 Utah in regular season finale
Postseason swimming and diving is almost here. The WAC Championships, where Idaho finished second last season, begin Feb. 23 in San Antonio.
Nate Mattson | Argonaut
Sophomore swimmer Mia Goodwin dives into the pool Wednesday at practice. The Vandals’ next meet is Saturday against Utah.
But before Idaho makes the trip to Texas, it must first focus its attention on Utah. The Vandals finish their regular season at 8 a.m. Saturday when they battle the Utes at the UI Swim Center.
“I think they’re going to be really good,” Idaho coach Mark Sowa said of Utah. “They’ve swum well this year.”
Sowa said the Utes have improved a lot since coach Joe Dykstra took over the program.
“Joe’s a second-year coach there,” Sowa said. “He did a tremendous job at North Texas and the Utes have gotten much, much better since he’s been there.”
Utah is the second straight Pac-12 team Idaho will compete against. The Vandals lost to Oregon State Jan. 31 in Corvallis, Oregon.
“It’s nice to swim up in conference sometimes and the Pac-12 you can make an argument is the best swimming conference in the country,” Sowa said. “SEC might argue against that, but it’s pretty darn good.”
The Idaho swim team enters Saturday having won two out of its three meets since coming back from winter break. The Vandals beat New Mexico State and Grand Canyon at home, but fell to Oregon State on the road.
The Idaho swim team enters Saturday with a two-week break from competition. The Vandals competed against New Mexico State, Grand Canyon and Oregon State in three straight weeks.
Sowa said his team needed the break between Oregon State and Utah for a couple reasons.
He said one reason was illness spread throughout the team. The other reason, he said, was because the Vandals are in their final stretch of the season and they needed the rest after three duals in three weeks.
Saturday will be the last time the Idaho seniors compete against another team at the UI Swim Center. Idaho already had its Senior Day by honoring its seniors in its last home meet against Grand Canyon.
Jamie Sterbis was one of those honored on Senior Day. Sterbis is a junior, but she is graduating this year, so she may not be back next season. Sterbis said it’s not setting in that this may be her last meet at home.
Nate Mattson | Argonaut
The Vandal Swim team trains for Saturday’s swim meet against Utah.
“I can always come back and swim in it and I can always come watch,” Sterbis said of the UI Swim Center. “But I think what’s going to really be shocking is the last meet at WAC because when am I ever going to go to San Antonio and swim again? Never.”
Sowa said the seniors have meant a lot and he thinks of them as one unit.
“They’re just seven wonderful women who have done so much for this program over the last four years,” Sowa said. “They are going to be missed, but that’s the beauty of college athletics. You leave your mark. You take ownership of a team and then there’s always somebody new to come along.”
Sowa said the seniors have strong character, are competitive, have gotten better every year and have stuck together.
“They are seven very different personalities,” he said. “But again, when I think of them, I think of them as a group because of what they’ve brought to the table for us. They are true Vandals.”
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected]