Feb. 21, 2015
Hello Wolf Pack Fans,
It was another day of fast swimming for Nevada! We defended our third place ranking and finished the night 100 points ahead of Wyoming and 156 points ahead of UNLV. We broke three school records and one Mountain West All-Time Record; plus, we won two events and two swimmers qualified for NCAAs. Today was the first time we've had at least one swimmer in the top 8 in every event. It was awesome to have swimmer after swimmer march out for finals and to have the team keep swarming the award stand for the medal ceremonies.
The night started out strong with the 400 Medley Relay comprised of freshman Jaeger Turner (53.35), sophomore Ary Medina (1:02.22), sophomore Sita Kusserow (53.67), and sophomore Teresa Baerens (48.85). They knocked more than two seconds off the school record and finished 4th, a huge improvement from last year's 7th place finish. I was particularly proud of these girls because they fought so hard in the relay even though they knew they would have only a short break before racing in their individual events.
The individual events started with the 400 IM where sophomore Riley Hilbrandt, freshman Emma Payne, and senior Kaelie Reviglio all raced in the consolation final. Riley came from behind to win the consolation in 4:22.25 and Emma's last lap was 28.28 to finish just behind her with 4:23.60. Kaelie has had remarkable improvement in that event and finished 16th. Then sophomore Yawen Li led from start to finish in the top heat of the 400 IM. She won handily with a 4:07.65, which was five seconds ahead of second place and 10 seconds ahead of third place. With that time, Yawen qualified for NCAAs… where she is determined to break the Mountain West All-Time Record.
After the 400 IM, junior Erin Fuss placed 13th in the 100 Fly with great underwater dolphin work. Then the meet had yet another equipment malfunction, so Sita waited behind the blocks for ten minutes before finishing a solid 5th place in the 100 fly, a huge improvement from her finish last year.
Then freshman Josefin Eriksen and Teresa raced in the finals of the 200 Free. Josefin had a knockout 200 free this morning, so we were so proud to see her qualify for yet another final and score big points with her 8th place finish; qualifying for two finals as a freshman is a big deal. Teresa, who had just thrown down the second fastest freestyle split in the entire meet in that 400 Medley Relay, proceeded to execute a beautiful race in 1:45.68…taking the gold, setting a school record, setting the Mountain West All-Time Record, and qualifying for NCAAs. The improvements she's made since her victory in the 200 Free last year are really phenomenal, and this marks the third consecutive year that Nevada has won that event.
After the 200 Free, Ary took fourth place in the 100 Breast. She established a new personal record (1:01.61) today and is inching toward the the school record. In the last event, senior Luiza Vieira picked up valuable 12th place points. The night finished with Jaeger breaking the school record in the 100 back for the third time in one day. This morning in prelims, she swam 53.53, then on the relay she hit 53.35, then in finals she went 53.30 for the bronze medal. It's special to see someone - particularly a freshman -make little adjustments to improve like that.
We're heading back to the pool tomorrow morning for the last day of competition. The divers will compete on platform and swimmers will race the mile, 100 Free, 200 Fly, 200 Back, and 200 Breast. It's the final day, we'll absolutely empty the tank. Best wishes to each of you.
Onward we go..
Battle Ready, Battle Born!
Abby Steketee, head coach
