Jan. 13, 2007
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Staff Report
Published January 14, 2007
For a team that's swimming as tired as their coach can possibly make them, the Alaska Nanooks are going pretty well.
Competing against defending NAIA national champion California Baptist on Saturday, the Nanooks won five of nine individual events but finished second to the visitors from Riverside, Calif., in the first of two days of competition at the Patty Center pool.
"That's a pretty good sign of the quality of our team," Alaska coach Scott Lemley said. "They still have more depth than we do and got a lot of second and third place points, but I think we have better quality than their team."
Cal Baptist won the event 130-75 behind its depth and strong showings in the relay races.
The Nanooks have been practicing twice a day since returning from the Christmas break and also competed in a meet at the University of California Irvine last weekend.
"We're finding out who can swim tired and who might need some rest," Lemley said. "For us to swim this well when we're tired is very encouraging for our future this season."
Samantha Zinsli and Kelly Becker each won two events for the Nanooks, while freshman Jacqueline vanDriessche of Seward set a school record in the 100-yard freestyle and posted an NCAA Division II B qualifying time with a swim of 53.96 seconds.
"She's nowhere near being rested, so the possibility of her getting an A time is not out of the question," Lemley said.
By getting a B qualifying time, vanDriessche can qualify for the NCAA championships by posting an A time in another event or if Alaska qualifies a relay team for the national championships slated for March in Buffalo, N.Y.
Zinsli, a sophomore, continued to excel in distance races by taking the top spot in the 1,650 freestyle in 18 minutes, 20.19 seconds to finish almost 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Chelsea Songy of Cal Baptist. Zinsli also won the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:19.13 to edge Cal Baptist's Katelyn Butler by 1.62 seconds
Becker, who has already posted one NCAA A qualifying time, earned her victories in the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly. She was the only swimmer to go under two minutes in the freestyle with a time of 1:59.03.
Becker, a freshman, cruised to victory in the 200 butterfly with a 2:10.46, which was almost 7.5 seconds ahead of Cal Baptist's Arienne Gachupin.
Cal Baptist picked up wins from Katelyn Butler in the 50 freestyle, Krista Chacon in the 400 individual medley, Nichole Shipman in the 200 backstroke and Gachupin n the 200 breaststroke. Cal Baptist also won the 400 freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay.
After today's sprint meet with Cal Baptist that starts at noon at the Patty Center, the Nanooks will begin to taper for the conference championships in early February.
