With a final total of 623 points, the Northern Arizona swim and dive team finished second place in their last meet of the season at the Western Athletic Conference championships in San Antonio Feb. 25-28. It was the second consecutive year NAU finished second at the meet with the previous year’s trophy being handed to this year’s champion, Nevada.

The meet began well for the Lumberjacks as the squad finished the first day in second place. NAU’s 800-meter freestyle relay team of senior Danielle Filipp, sophomores Vivian Landeck and Kate Schafer and junior Claire Ferro finished with a time of 7:23.90, breaking the three-year-old school record.

NAU made its biggest splash on day two of the meet. Junior Rachael Foe took home the team’s only gold medal of the day in the 200-meter individual medley with a school record time of 2:01.49. Moreover, the team totaled enough points in the rest of the events to take the overall lead in team points.

In the meet’s third day, the Lumberjacks swam consistent and fell back one place to wind up in second heading into the final day. NAU sophomore diver Taryn Harris, fighting through a serious injury, earned her second bronze medal of the meet by posting a score of 312.30 in the 3-meter springboard competition. Other performances included juniors Kristen Hamilton and Renee Rother and senior Tami Binek finishing fourth, fifth and tenth in the 100 butterfly, respectively, which helped the Lumberjacks to keep in the title mix as the final day approached. 

Going into the fourth and final day of the meet, NAU braced themselves for a frenetic finish. 

“There were a lot of emotions throughout the meet,” Foe said. “A lot of nerves. A lot of team enthusiasm. Everybody swam amazing.”

The day started off with the 1650-meter freestyle as numerous swimmers scored points in the event to allow NAU to recapture the lead in points temporarily. Filipp also continued to shine as she earned a bronze medal and a school record in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:16.02. Sophomore divers Lana Christensen and Megan Collier earned fourth and seventh place, respectively, in platform diving. Although Harris didn’t advance to the finals, she still scored enough points to place ninth in the event. 

The meet’s champion would be determined by the final race of the event, the 400-meter freestyle relay. While the team of Ferro, Binek, Hamilton and Foe placed fourth and set a new school record with a time of 3:24.62, Nevada placed well enough in the event to score just enough points to take home the crown.

However, the team did not see this close call as the end of the road.

“They were incredible,” said swimming coach Andy Johns. “They were awesome. They did a great job the whole meet, and I couldn’t ask for more.”

The experience at the meet would also play a key role as in the future of NAU’s team.

“We’re only graduating four seniors,” Johns said. “They brought the program a long way with their leadership. All returners will be better for it next year.”

Filipp also believes this season was a great success not only for her, but also for the rest of the team.

“It was the last meet, and we did so well,” Filipp said. “I couldn’t ask for a better way to go out. It was awesome.”

Diving coach Nikki Huffman believes this year will only serve as a building block to NAU’s future. 

“It was great. Every single one of them had great performances,” Huffman said. “It is inevitable that the WAC championship will be ours very soon.”