The NAU swim and dive team dipped into the water this past weekend, taking on Pac-10 team Arizona on Friday and Idaho on Saturday, making its way toward the acclaimed WAC Conference Championsips coming up in late February.

The Lady Jacks took a defeat from UA on Jan. 8 as Arizona overmatched NAU, totaling a score of 216-83.

“In Tucson, we were obviously facing the best in the country, and I mean it’s nothing new for us; we do that every year,” said head coach Andy Johns. “It’s tough to swim at UA, not to mention Oregon State and New Mexico were there, as well. We didn’t score against them, but it’s good competition, and I think it helps our girls prepare for our conference championships.”

Junior Taryn Harris finished first in the 3-meter dive, while teammate junior Lana Christensen came out on top in the 1-meter dive with a first-place finish.

“We are committed to a goal,” Johns said. “They’ve been very
committed to a team goal for a long time, and they are very supportive of each other. We always work on the team aspect, even though it’s an individual sport.”

The following day brought the women back home to familiar
territory as NAU took on the Idaho Vandals at the Wall Aquatic Center. In its only meet swam in home waters over the break, NAU defeated the Vandals, 173-127.

“For the most part, I thought we had really good attitudes, and after a whole week of really hard practices, swimming a meet was not hard work,” said senior Rachael Foe. “We want to win, and I think it’s good to swim your hardest race in every meet, and I think some meets present more rivalry in our conference. And so far, we’ve done a really good job of swimming our races to our fullest.”

Foe was among the few to come out with blistering strokes as she set a pool record in the 100-meter butterfly early Saturday morning. With a time of 1:03.48 in the event, Foe managed to also win in the 400-meter individual medley and the 200-meter freestyle.

“We are really secure on talking to each other positively in terms of motivating each other and cheering and maintaining that attitude of ‘we have got to do it,’” Foe said.

With a time of 9:31.47, sophomore Kristin Jones joined the victory pack, winning the 800-meter freestyle, while freshman Fiona Connell, junior Vivian Landeck and senior Kim Morelli also finished first in their individual events.

“Today we were a little tired from driving back last night, and we weren’t quite sure how the girls would step up,” said diving coach Nikki Huffman. “But all of them did a really nice job, especially freshman Kristi; her warm-up did not look great, but she did both boards great. She dove 1-meter and 3-meter, and for her to get a win, that’s great—especially against some of our tougher divers.”

With the WAC Championships steadily approaching, Johns said his focus is on the present and to prepare his team for the upcoming competition.

“We’ve seen the best; we’ve raced against the best,” Johns said. “Nobody intimidates us when we walk on a pool deck.”

The final invitational for the Lumberjacks is set to take place in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Jan. 29.