MOSCOW, Idaho- Idaho women's swimming and diving shook off the rust Friday, earning a 174-126 victory over Northern Colorado in the Vandals' first competition since November.  Idaho honored its eight seniors prior to the meet.
 
"Senior day and the range of motions stood out the most," said head coach Mark Sowa. "Honoring the seniors tonight might have hyped up the girls a little too much, but it was okay it was great to do that for them."
 
The Vandal divers were strong, taking the top four spots on three-meter, and top three on one-meter, staking the Vandals to a big advantage. Senior Hailey Kessler won both springboard events, setting career bests in each.
 
"The senior divers were awesome," said Sowa. "We don't get to train the swimmers and divers together much, but they are tremendous. Our strength coach always says that they are some of the hardest-working athletes on campus"
 
Senior Cara Jernigan set the tone for the swimmers in the first race. Jernigan's 28.81 breaststroke leg on the 200-yard medley relay propelled the Vandals to victory. Jernigan carried the momentum into her individual races, claiming titles in both the 100- and 200-yard breastroke events. She won the 100 by more than a second and a half, and the 200 by nearly three seconds.
 
"Cara was very excited to swim today," said Sowa. "And she was really good, especially her underwaters. I was excited about the breaststrokers as a whole. Cara really took those girls under her wings."
 
Sophomore Leah Fisk was victorious in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races, while taking runner-up honors in the 500. However, Fisk saved her best performance for last. With the Vandals looking to secure the team victory, Fisk dove in as the anchor leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay with her squad trailing by 1.48 seconds. She tore through the water for a 52.37 finishing leg and a decisive victory for the Vandals.
 
"Leah is a good swimmer and on that relay she really was the hammer," said Sowa. "I also know she has room to grow in the 500 and the potential to make that a great race for her."
 
Northern Colorado stayed on the Vandals' heels with six event wins, including three from Ioanna Sacha. Sacha was victorious in the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 200 individual medley.
 
Idaho will be back in action Saturday against Oregon State. Diving will begin at 8:30 a.m., while swimming events are set to start at 11 a.m. at the U of I Swim Center. The Vandals will close the regular season February 10, against College of Idaho, before taking off for the WAC Championships at the end of the month.
 
"I was telling the team that I think they will be much better tomorrow," said Sowa. "Some of them were second guessing what they were doing in the middle of some of the races today. But they're an experienced group, and they will be really good in about a month."