LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Alaska Nanooks ended the 2021 Winter Invitational, hosted by La Verne, with an eighth-place finish. In the three-day event the Nanooks scored 470 points.

Payton Wojciechowicz placed eighth in the 1650-yard freestyle to start day three. She raced to a finals time of 18:00.44. Following a group of men's races, Emma Corby hopped into the women's 100-yard IM finals and took seventh place in the A-Final with a time of 1:01.09. In the B-Final, Sophia Ruppert swam to a 13^th-place finish and time of 1:02.43. Shannon McCallum took 18^th in the C-Final with a time of 1:03.55.

Corby returned to the top-10, getting seventh in the 100-yard IM. She posted a time of 1:00.82. Ruppert followed up with a 14^th-place finish, racing to a time of 1:02.01. McCallum finished 23^rd with a time of 1:03.51, Namoi Burgan placed 30^th and Nella Pashak took home 32^nd. McCallum placed 24^th in the next final, the 200-yard backstroke, racing to a time of 2:20.41. Corby and Pashak struck-again with finals performances in the 100-yard freestyle. Pashak took 12^th and Corby grabbed 16^th. They posted times of 52.89 and 54.24, respectively.

Gabrielle Davy and Ruppert made the finals in the 200-yard butterfly with Ruppert taking eight with a time of 2:11.36 and Davy grabbed 19^th with a time of 2:20.85. In the final event of the Winter Invitational for the Nanooks, a team of Emma Corby, Lainey Lioi, Adeline Berry and Nella Pashak took ninth in the 400-yard freestyle
relay. They posted a time of 3:37.22.
There were a total of 32 personal-bests over the weekend including;

Taryn Aho: 200 Breaststroke
Adeline Berry: 50 Butterfly
Naomi Burgan: 500 Freestyle, 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 100 Breaststroke, 100 IM
Kylee Carter: 200 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke
Emma Corby: 50 Freestyle, 400 IM (#6 on the Top 10 list), 100 IM; her 500 Freestyle time of 5:04.69 is #5 on the Top 10 for the event and an NCAA B Cut 
Cassie Erdman: 50 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke
Lainey Lioi: 50 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, 50 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle
Shannon McCallum: 500 Freestyle, 50 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle, 100 IM
Carol McCormick: 100 Butterfly
Mesa Moran: 50 Freestyle
Nella Pashak: 50 Freestyle (#10 on the top 10 list)
Sophia Ruppert: 200 Freestyle, 100 IM
Payton Wojciechowicz: 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle, 1000 Freestyle, 1650 Freestyle
 
Head coach Kelsey Leeson was proud of her team's performances over the long-weekend, "I'm extremely proud with how the team did this weekend. They swam very well, overcame some obstacles and supported each other. We finished with one NCAA B-Cut (Corby – 500 Freestyle), three team top-10 performances, and an incredible 32 lifetime bests. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season and seeing what else these talented and hardworking student-athletes can do."

This ends the Nanooks 2021 schedule. They'll be back in action on Jan. 14-15 at home in the Patty Center Pool taking on the University of the Incarnate Word.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks swim team, follow @NanooksSwim on Twitter, @NanookSwim on Instagram or like the Alaska Nanooks Swim team page on Facebook.