Final Results
LA MIRADA, Calif. – The Alaska women's swim team wrapped up its competition at the 2012 Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships and moved up one more spot to finish in fourth place in the team standings for the second straight year.
The Nanooks finished the championships with 679 points after scoring in at least every event on Saturday to move up one slot to fourth. UC-San Diego, the nation's top-ranked team for NCAA Division II, captured the team title with 1,663.5 points. California Baptist was second (1,268.5) and Fresno Pacific took third (733).
The night was highlighted by the final event of the women's championship in the 400 freestyle relay as the Nanooks came up fractions of a second shy from winning the race. The team of sophomore
Bente Heller and freshmen
Danielle Lyons,
Gabi Summers and
Margot Adams came in second place with a time of three minutes, 29.17 seconds, which was four one-hundredths of the second off UC-San Diego's tandem for first.
“It was incredible, the closest relay I've ever seen in 32 years,” head coach
Scott Lemley said. “Four teams were duking it out and we were behind. Margot, our anchor, caught up with the other teams and almost won the whole thing for us. It was a real exciting way to finish the meet.”
He continued, “It's good to have this experience behind us, especially swimming against San Diego, the top seed. We almost beat them [in the relay] and I think we can. It will be one our missions in the next five weeks to prepare to beat the best team in the nation and become the best relay.”
Individually, two swimmers finished in the top 10. Heller finished in third place in the 100 free with a time of 51.46 seconds, improving on her preliminary time of by over half a second.
Sophomore
Ashley Crowe had a pair of top 10s with a fourth-place showing in the 1,650 free with a time of 17:27.21 and an eighth-place finish in the 200 butterfly after touching the wall in 2:14.07.
Other notable finishers Saturday included freshman
Lauren Bailey, freshman
Genevieve Johnson, junior
Sarah Meierotto, junior
Meghan O'Leary and freshman
Katelyn Oldenkamp.
Bailey took 15th in the 1,650 with a time of 18:04.37, while Oldenkamp also competed in the same event, placing 23rd in 19:08.29. In the 200 breaststroke, Johnson was 17th in 2:28.33, while Meierotto was not far behind in 21st with a time of 2:33.86. O'Leary was the top Nanook finisher in the 200 backstroke with a mark of 2:14.68, good for 21st place.
The Nanooks will now wait to find out which of their swimmers will continue on to the NCAA Division II National Swimming Championships, which will be held March 14-17 in Mansfield, Texas.
“We know the four on the 800 free relay is going and we think our 200 medley is fast enough so that combination will which includes Genevieve,” Lemley said. “We'll have a whole slate of events but we won't swim them all because we want to be selective. We should make a splash.”
