The swim and dive team opened up their season with a pair of meets last weekend.
Starting out strong
The Vandals traveled to the College of Idaho for their first meet of the season. Idaho was victorious in 15 of the 16 events, and the team swept the podium in six different events. The team took home a decisive victory by a score of 228-61.
Idaho won two of the relays, and senior Maryann Kok Cher Ling contributed to both wins with the freestyle leg of the 200-yard medley relay and a solid performance in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
In the individual events, 12 different competitors won 13 different events. Senior Allie Magrino won the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events, and finished more than four seconds ahead of the field in the 200.
“I thought we did a great job, despite the six-hour bus ride,” head coach Mark Sowa said in a news release. “Their attitude and focus was outstanding, and that allowed us to come away with a win.”
Boise Blues
The team was less successful on Saturday against Boise State.
The Vandals lost the meet 167-122 on Saturday, but there were still plenty of positives in the team’s performance.
Junior Janelle Lucas was victorious in the three-meter springboard, while sophomore Aimee Iwamoto took second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:26.20. Senior Cara Jernigan and junior Lauren Votava finished right behind Iwamoto and tied for third with a time of 2:26.58.
Lucas’ performance in the three-meter qualified her for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships, and she was also the runner-up in the one-meter springboard with a score of 260.33. Senior Maren Seljevold also performed well for the dive team, taking third in the one-meter and fourth in the three-meter events.
Coach Sowa said he was especially proud of the divers’ performances.
“They’ve only been on the boards for three weeks, but coach Southerland’s girls were impressive and Janelle knocked out her zone cut on three meter,” he said after the meet.
Freshman newcomer Emma Schlyter also put in a commendable performance across multiple freestyle events. She finished second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:55.85 and led off Idaho’s best 400-yard freestyle relay.
“As a whole there were more positives than negatives today,” Sowa said. “We have a lot of work to do, but that’s the fun part.”
Up next, the Vandals travel to Seattle University Oct. 14.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker