HOUSTON – The University of Idaho Vandals finished in third in the Western Athletic Conference Championships. The Vandals scored a total of 544 points just seven points behind second-place team New Mexico State. Northern Arizona won with 615.5.
Coach
Mark Sowa was pleased with the Vandals.
"I couldn't be more proud of these girls," Sowa said. "We were picked to finish fifth this year and we were in striking distance of first place from the first day to the final day. These athletes are so resilient that they never quit and did a great job at picking eachother up after tough performances. We have never scored over 500 points and we scored 100 points more than we did last year which is pretty awesome."
Saturday's competition began with the 200 backstroke where Allie Magrino advanced into finals, where she finished in 10
th tonight with a time of 2:01.27.
Three Vandals competed in the 100 freestyle final.
Leah Fisk swam a time of 51.46 in 11
th,
Emily Kliewer (51.73) in 14
th place, and
Aileen Pannecoucke (51.87) in 15
th place.
The 200 breaststroke was a strong event for the Vandals as sophomore
Clothilde Peseux and junior
Cara Jernigan advanced into the top final with Peseux (2:15.26) finishing in fourth place, and Jernigan finishing in fifth place. Freshman
Aimee Iwamoto finished in 11
th in consolation with a 2:19.13. Sophomore
Lauren Votava also advanced into consolations and finished 13
th overall with a 2:20.32.
Sophomore
Vivian Crow advanced into the top eight in the 200 butterfly. Crow finished eighth with a time of 2:04.94
The last event of the four day meet was the 400 freestyle relay. The relay team of Fisk, Kliewer, Maryann Kok, and Pannecoucke finished fifth tonight in the last race with a time of 3:25.37.
"This group of girls were true Vandals this week; I couldn't be more proud," Sowa said.
