Results
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Two from the Alaska Nanooks swim team made history on Saturday morning, participating in the first-ever College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) National Collegiate 5k Open Water Championship in Lawrence, Kansas. The event, which was hosted by the University of Kansas, saw 72 student-athletes total swimming a 5km course at Lone Star Lake.
"It was exciting to hear the news a couple of months ago that our national coaches' association was putting on the first-ever collegiate national open water championships," head coach Scott Lemley expressed on Saturday. "Two of our swimmers happened to be doing some of their training in open water this summer and their pool times were fast enough to qualify for this meet. Both Cassidy and Sierra are dedicated to achieving the highest level of aerobic fitness possible and here they are, only three weeks into our seven month season, finishing in the top-16 at a national championship. Congratulations to them and to Kiunsey, their coach, for two spectacular swims today."
In a field of 35 swimmers in the women's division, sophomore Cassidy Heaton finished the roughly 3.1 mile-long course in 1:09:02.79, ranking her 11th overall. Of the 10 swimmers who finished before her, Heaton was the second amongst NCAA Division II swimmers, while the others hailed from NCAA Division I schools such as the University of Kansas, the University of Cincinnati and Rice University. Heaton's time was only three minutes and 14 seconds behind the first-place finishers, a tie between Kansas swimmers Libby Walker and Haley Bishop (1:05:48.32).
Alaska Nanooks newcomer Sierra Kinworthy, a sophomore transfer from Ouachita Baptist, finished 16th in the Open Water Championships with a time of 1:10:00.77, concluding her first unofficial race as a Nanook only 58 seconds behind Heaton. Â Including Heaton, Kinworthy was third among NCAA Division II swimmers.
Out of the 33 swimmers in the men's division, Heaton's time of 1:09:02.72 would've placed her 19th overall, while Kinworthy's time of 1:10:00.77 would've put her 26th. Since the Nanooks only sent two swimmers to the Open Water Championships, Alaska was ineligible to participate in the team portion of the Championships – which was won by the University of Kansas in the women's division and the University of Cincinnati in the men's division.
The 5k race started and finished in the water near the beach in Lone Star Lake, where competitors swam two laps around the main body of water. Alaska was one of 12 universities participating in the historic event which also included Albion College, Carson-Newman University, University of Cincinnati, Colorado School of Mines, Emmanuel College (Georgia), University of Kansas, University of North Florida, Ohio Wesleyan University, Oklahoma Baptist University, Rice University and Saint Louis University.
The Alaska Nanooks swim team will host their annual Blue and Gold Pentathlon on Saturday, Oct. 1 at the Patty Center Pool, with the start time slated for noon AKT. For more information on the Alaska Nanooks swim team, follow @NanooksSwim on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Swimming team page on Facebook.
