FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Once a destination only for the UNO hockey team, Alaska's wide open spaces have now drawn the UNO swimming and diving team which completed a two day competition with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks earlier this week. It was UNO's first trip to the “Last Frontier.”
The two teams squared off in a pentathlon meet on Sunday, Oct. 17. In it, swimmers competed for points by swimming in a succession of strokes determined by a common distance. There was no team score. On day two, the two schools competed in a traditional meet which the Mavericks won, 169-92.
In the pentathlon, UNO, a team with a rich sprint tradition, took the top four spots in the 50 yard flight. #Lucy Zamecnik# had the top combined time of 3:01.81, beating teammate #Kylie Rathbone# who was second at 3:03.60. #Tiesha Scipio# (3:06.45) was third and #Cait Hopkins# (3:07.24) was fourth. In fact, UNO had nine of the top ten swimmers in that flight.
Alaska had the top five swimmers in the 100 yard, and the Nanooks had the top two times in the 200 yard flight in Mariya Pavlovskaya (11:21.51) and Courtney Nichols (11:31.11). UNO's #Laura Kemp# was third in the flight with a combined time of 11:34.84 while teammate #Katie Keen# was fourth at 11:49.81. UNO had seven places in the top ten.
On day two, the Mavericks won seven of the 12 individual events plus both relays. Rathbone was a double winner on the day, taking first in the 100 yard breastroke in a time of 1:07.86 which was a pool record. She also earned first in the 200 yard breastroke, clocking in at 2:30.78.
#Amy Bechdolt# took first in the 1650 yard freestyle with a time of 18:17.67; Hopkins won the 200 yard freestyle in 1:57.73; Scipio topped all swimmers in the 50 yard freestyle at 25.23; and Zamecnik won the 100 yard freestyle in a time of 54.71.
The Mavs opened the meet with a win in the 200 yard medley relay. Scipio, Rathbone, #Colleen Klaiber# and Hopkins edged Alaska's top team with a mark of 1:53.66. UNO finished with a nearly 10-second win in the 400 yard freestyle relay as the team of Zamecnik, #Meredith Colombo#, Scipio and Hopkins clocked in at 3:40.58 which was another pool record.
UNO returns to the pool on Saturday, Oct. 23 when it visits Iowa State at 1 p.m.
