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FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The Alaska women's swimming team returns home this week for its last home meets of the 2013-14 season as it hosts Cal Baptist at 6 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday in back-to-back dual meets.
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The meets will serve as a final tune-up for the Nanooks (5-7) before the championship season begins next month. Alaska heads back to Southern California on Feb. 12-15 for the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships in La Mirada, Calif. Then it's on to the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships March 12-15, in Geneva, Ohio.
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Last time Alaska swam in the comfort of the Patty Center Pool, they dropped two dual meet decisions to visiting Loyola Marymount on Nov. 1-2. But the Nanooks also rewrote the Patty Center Pool record book during the first two weeks of the season. Freshman
Victoria Adams (Anchorage, Alaska/Accounting) set three pool records herself in two days against the Lions.
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Alaska enters the final weekend of its regular season schedule with 15 times ranked among the top-25 nationally, including four relays. The top nationally-ranked time for the Nanooks belongs to senior
Bente Heller (Hamburg, Germany/Psychology), whose NCAA "A" standard time of 54.88 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke ranks third in the country.
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Heller also has top-10 times in the 50 free (23.41, 7th) and 100 free (51.03, 10th). Adams has top-15 ranked times in the 100 back (56.44, 11th) and 200 back (2:02.28, 11th). Her sister, junior
Margot Adams (Anchorage, Alaska/Political Science), also has multiple top-25 times. Her time of 55.17 in the 100 butterfly ranks fourth in the country. She also has nationally-ranked times in the 100 back (56.51, 12th) and the 200 individual medley (2:05.52, 15th).
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In the most recent College Swimming Coaches Association of America NCAA Division II rankings on Dec. 19, the Nanooks were ranked No. 12 and the Lancers were ranked No. 14. Cal Baptist enters the weekend with 19 total top-25 times, including three relays. The Lancers' top-ranked time comes from Mary Hanson, who holds the No. 1 time in the country in the 100 back at 53.83, swum on Dec. 14 of this season.
