Women's Swimming | 1/13/2017 6:32:00 PM
Results
LOS ANGELES – Despite the team results, the Alaska Nanooks swim team dominated in day one of the Loyola Marymount Lion's Cup at the Burns Aquatic Center on Friday afternoon. The two-day Lion's Cup features Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference (PCSC) teams Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine University and newcomer Dixie State.
In the opening day of the Lion's Cup, Alaska captured first place finishes in three of the five events they participated in. At the conclusion of day one, Alaska sits in third place with 47 points, while LMU (83) has a half-point lead over Pepperdine (82.5) for first and second place, respectively. Dixie State currently sits in fourth place with 38.5 points.
Despite all four teams being members of the PCSC, Loyola and Pepperdine are NCAA Division I teams, while Alaska and Dixie State are NCAA Division II.
"Not a bad start for the invitational today," head coach Scott Lemley said on Friday. "We only entered three of the five events today and won each one of them. In our first event, the 200 medley, one of our signature events, we managed to just touch-out the host team. Victoria, Nga, Martha and Katie make up one of the most dominate teams in our conference and today's win confirms their position."
The Alaska Nanooks started off the day firing on all cylinders, taking first place overall in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:49.62. The nationally-ranked relay team consisted of senior Victoria Adams, senior Nga Nguyen, junior Martha Hood and junior Katie Stark. The team narrowly defeated the second-place LMU Lions in the event, who posted a time of 1:49.78.
Sophomore distance freestyle swimmer Cassidy Heaton continues to dominate, as the Fairbanks native concluded the 500-yard freestyle in 5:09.40. Heaton's time was over five seconds quicker than Loyola's Stacy Maier, who finished second overall with a time of 5:14.87.
Sophomore Sierra Kinworthy placed fifth overall in the 500 free, posting a time of 5:22.02.
In Alaska's final event of the day, Hood and Adams swept first and second place in the 50-yard freestyle, respectively. Hood led all swimmers with a time of 00:24.87, while Adams concluded Friday's race at 00:25.29.
Alaska teammate Nga Nguyen was the only other Nanook to compete in the 50 freestyle, registering a time of 00:26.57.
"Because we have such small numbers down here, we're not necessarily looking to win the invitational," Lemley concluded. "Our goal has always been to swim quality races and this shows in our performance today."
The Alaska Nanooks swim team will return to the Burns Aquatic Center tomorrow, Jan. 14 for the second and final day of the LMU Lion's Cup, starting at 9am AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks swim team, follow @NanooksSwim on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Swimming team page on Facebook.
