The Alaska swim team headed into the weekend's dual meet with Grand Canyon with less swimmers than they would have liked, but head coach Scott Lemley used it as an opportunity to see what his women are built of.
“We're short-handed right now for a variety of reasons and that actually allowed me to swim girls in events they don't ordinarily swim,” Lemley said. “
It resulted in a 141-64 loss, but there were plenty of positives to take away.
Mariya Pavlovskaya may have been the hardest pushed. As the team's fastest and most decorated swimmer, Lemley felt he could trust her to compete in the 1650 Yard Freestyle, an event she has never swam. She won the event by less than a second (17:54.58).
Pavlovskaya is now the fastest NCAA Division II mile swimmer in the nation.
She also finished first in the 200 Yard Breaststroke with a 2:27.37 mark.
“She's a senior and I thought it would be a good race with Grand Canyon's miler who I know is very fast,” Lemley said. “These two girls went the distance nearly stroke for stroke and Mariya ended up winning the event by less than half a second.”
Courtney Nichols battled Grand Canyon's top 200 Yard IM swimmer and finished on top (2:14.68). The mark was four seconds better than any of her other swims this season.
Kendra Day swam the 50 Yard Freestyle (25.93) faster than she did at season's end last year. She finished second.
“Because we're short handed and Grand Canyon brought their entire team up, their depth was pretty overwhelming,” Lemley said. “When the health of some of our swimmers improves, we should be a match for a team like Grand Canyon.”
