MOSCOW, Idaho – Perhaps fueled by a desire to send their seniors off in grand style; perhaps remembering a shellacking by Grand Canyon University a year ago - whatever it was, the Idaho Vandals handed their visitors from Phoenix their first loss of the season with a 171.5-128.5 decision at the UI Swim Center.
 
"A lot of emotion goes into the senior meet," coach Mark Sowa said. "The nice part of that is it takes the focus off themselves and they focus on their teammates. When that happens, good things happen."
 
Good things happened right away for the Vandals with a victory in the 200 medley to start the meet and a one-two-three finish in 100 breaststroke to take a commanding lead at the mid-point. They came back in the second half of the meet with a one-two finish in the 200 breaststroke to go with Emily Kliewer's win in the 100 fly. Clothilde Peseaux added the 200 IM title and the Vandals dominated the diving events to give themselves the comfortable winning margin.
 
"Winning that first relay was a big deal," Sowa said. "They won that relay at the conference meet last year."
 
Sowa said he needed to remind his young team to keep its composure when time came for some of GCU's premier events.
 
"We told them they had to continue to focus on what they do well," he said. "They did a tremendous job of that."
 
Six Vandals, including two who had to retire early because of injury, are facing their final weeks at the UI Swim Center. Sophie Britzmann, Kelly Giffey, Mia Goodwin, Jackie Himmelberger, Victoria Papke and Nicole Weinman all are wrapping up their Idaho careers. The final meet of the season is the Western Athletic Conference Championship Meet Feb. 22-25.