FAIRBANKS, Alaska - The Alaska Nanooks swim team fought Monday but came up just short to the Aztecs of San Diego State. In a closer meet than Sunday, Sept. 29, the Nanooks fell by just three points, 117-114 on Sept. 30.
In the first event of the day, the 'Nooks swimmers took third and fourth in the 200-yard medley relay with times of 1:52.02 and 2:01.14. The third place team consisted of
Oda Bygdnes, Syd Gulon,
Kaia Norbye and
Makayla Suominen. The fourth place team was made up of
Erika Kakazu,
Whitney McArthur,
Jessica Williamson and
Kyleigh McArthur.
Alaska saw success in the 1000-yard freestyle due to SDSU exhibition swimmers. Exhibition swimmers do not count towards the awarded points. This allowed the Nanooks to capitalize and take the top three positions with
Camille Dayton taking first with a time of 11:02.81. Carol McCormick followed behind with an 11:12.21 and
Rachel Beal took third with an 11:42.68.
The Alaska swimming team also capitalized in the 100-yard backstroke as
Erika Kakazu and
Whitney McArthur came in first and second with times of 1:05.32 and 1:05.39.
Kaia Norbye claimed the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:07.38 time.
Through the meet today, head coach
Becca Weiland felt her swimmers never stopped competing, "The Nanook swimmers did a great job in the pool tonight competing against SDSU. Considering we raced against a D1 program, we got up on the blocks and raced our hearts out. The ladies did a great job getting up and racing against their competitors. We are right where we should be."
Norbye ran away with the 200-yard IM, winning by more than four seconds, finishing with a time of 2:14.22 as the next closest time was 2:18.86 out of an Aztec swimmer.
The last big highlight of the night was
Oda Bygdnes in the 100-yard butterfly. With a sub-1 minute time of 58.19, Bygdnes claimed the win. Closely followed by SDSU's Alma Thormalm who swam a 58.37, Bygdnes took the close finish home for the Nanooks.
The Nanooks are back in action on Friday, Oct. 4 as they host their Alumni meet at 5:00 p.m. in the Patty Center Pool.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks swim team, follow @NanooksSwim on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Swim team page on Facebook.
