Feb. 22, 2015
Dear Wolf Pack Swimming and Diving Fans,
It used to be easy to write these emails because we had only a few student-athletes qualify for finals. For the second night in a row, Nevada had someone in the top 8 in every event. Senior Michelle Forman was really the spark that lit the team up today. She lapped every other swimmer in her heat of the mile to finish fourth overall in the swim of her life. Truly, it was like watching Secretariat win the Triple Crown as the announcer screamed the famous line about "moving like a tremendous machine." Then Senior Kaelie Reviglio broke 2:00 in the 200 back for the first time in her life…in her very last swim. Then, freshman Kate Hofmeyer surged from behind to win the consolation final of the 200 back - while senior Luiza Vieira finished 10th and freshman Josefin Eriksen (who has scored in every event she entered) finished 12th.
In the final heat of the 200 back, freshman Jaeger Turner shattered the school record by nearly two seconds to win the bronze (1:56.33). She thinks of herself as a sprinter, but we all know the secret of middle-distance prowess now! In the 100 free, sophomore Teresa Baerens continued the assault on the Nevada record board by winning the bronze and breaking the school record (49.14). Then sophomore Riley Hilbrandt (another swimmer who has scored in every event she entered) swam a huge personal best to win the consolation heat by over two seconds to her closest competitor (2:15.14). In the final heat of the 200 breast, we had two swimmers: sophomore Ary Medina finished fifth in 2:14.63…her third top 5 finish of the meet! Yawen Li led the race from start to finish and set a new All-Time MW Record of 2:08.49. All of our breaststrokers evenly split their races…smart, precise racing under very emotional, pressurized circumstances.
Senior Jocelin Drennan continued the dogged racing in the 200 Fly. She had already raced the prelims of the 200 Fly and the mile; so this was her third grueling event of the day. Joc finished with pride, coming from behind to go a personal best. Sophomore Sita Kusserow, who swam on four record-breaking relays in addition to finishing in the top 5 in each her individual events, gave it her all in the final heat of the 200 Fly to finish in 1:59.85. Junior Erin Fuss also swam in that final - her first top 8 finish ever at conference!
I wish I could send you video of junior Krysta Palmer's performance on platform. On one of her dives, she was given a 10.00…except the scoreboard wasn't programed to accept double-digits so the score read as 1.00. But everyone in the building knew exactly what the meant. Krysta won yet another gold medal to achieve a sweep of the boards, something a Nevada diver has never done at the Mountain West. Our 400 Free Relay comprised of freshman Emma Payne, Yawen, Sita, and Teresa closed out the meet in style with another school record (3:19.94).
All in all, the team established 12 new school records (200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay, 400 Free Relay, 800 Free Relay, 100 Back, 200 Back, 200 IM, 200 Breast, 100 Free, 200 Free, 1-meter diving, and platform diving) and we will probably have three student-athletes at NCAAs (Yawen, Teresa, and Krysta). The team also swept the overall awards. For the third consecutive year, Jianli was voted Diving Coach of the Year. Krysta was voted Diver of the Year, and Yawen was voted Swimmer of the Year. The Swim Coach of the Year Award is a reflection of Steve, JoJo, and Bubba. It is a reflection of smart work, very hard work, and, most importantly, team work.
Thanks to each of you for being part of our team and building a culture of never, ever giving up. Take care and GO PACK!
Abby Steketee, head coach
