MOSCOW, Idaho- University of Idaho women's swimming and diving completed a weekend sweep with a 174-86 victory against Oregon State Saturday, at the U of I Swim Center. The Vandals (5-5) won nine of the 14 events and used their depth to come away with a decisive victory.
 
Senior diver Maren Seljevold broke the school record on three-meter with a score of 337.7. Both springboard diving events were completed but did not count toward the team score as the Beavers do not carry any divers on their roster.
 
"We talk a lot about not having to be perfect, just being really, really consistent," said head coach Mark Sowa. "Maren was the epitome of consistency today. She didn't try to do too much, she just focused on executing. She's been knocking on the door of a breakthrough for a while and today she busted right through it. Hats off to her, we're really excited about that accomplishment."
 
The Vandal swimmers got off to a strong start with a come-from-behind win in the 200-yard medley relay thanks to a torrid anchor leg from senior Maryann Kok Cher Ling. With Idaho's top team trailing Oregon State by 11 one-hundredths of a second, Ling dove in and quickly made up ground. She ultimately clocked a 24.80 and lifted Idaho to a win in 1:48.99.
 
Kok went on to claim a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke before ending the meet with the second-fastest leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay in 24.42 as she swam third for Idaho's B team.
 
"Maryann is one of the best sprinters we've had in this program," said Sowa. "We trust her on the anchor leg and trust her to get her hand on the wall, which is why she will more than likely be on that medley relay for us at WAC."
 
Sophomore Leah Fisk continued her dominant weekend with two individual wins and a decisive anchor leg on Idaho's winning 200 freestyle relay team. Fisk started her day with a season-best 10:52.15 to win the 1,000-yard freestyle by more than 18 seconds.
 
After the Vandals ripped off three consecutive wins to take control of the meet headed into the first break, Fisk effectively put the meet away with a victory in the 100-yard freestyle in the first event following intermission. The Mercer Island, Wash., native led the whole way and finished in a flourish to stop the clock at 53.84, nearly a full second ahead of teammate Aileen Pannecoucke who used her own strong kick to take runner-up honors.
 
Fisk's performance rounds out a successful weekend which included two wins and a runner-up finish Friday, against Northern Colorado in addition to another winning anchor leg.
 
"This weekend was a big step for her," Sowa said. "Leah is still figuring some things out, in terms of how she wants to race. But she is a tremendous competitor, a wonderful teammate and a great leader. We put her in some uncomfortable situations this weekend and she rose above them. We have the utmost confidence in Leah and are really proud of her performance."
 
Idaho also used individual wins from Dhani Freeland (200-yard individual medley), Cara Jernigan (100-yard breaststroke), Pannecoucke (50-yard freestyle), Alexis Schmidt (200-yard butterfly) and Lauren Votava (200-yard breaststroke).
 
Pannecoucke and Schmidt led 1-2-3 sweeps for the Vandals in their respective victories.
 
Oregon State used big performances from Felicia Anderson and Arianna Letrari to stay within striking distance for much of the meet. Anderson won both backstroke races while Letrari was victorious in the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle. The Vandals remained at arm's length by taking second and third in each of the five events the Beavers claimed the top spot.
 
"You're not going to win every event in a dual meet, but you can neutralize your opponent's strengths with a full team performance," said Sowa. "We competed every stroke to the end. A couple of our finishes were really good. That's stuff we talk about all the time. It's what can really separate teams at a conference championship. We will be successful because of our depth. Every swim counts and every dive counts. Even if you're not on the scoring roster, how you compete moves this team forward.
 
Idaho concludes the regular season Feb. 10, at home against College of Idaho. The meet is slated to start at 11 a.m. from the U of I Swim Center. The Vandals will travel to the WAC Championships Feb. 21-24, in Houston.
 
With the season quickly coming to a close, Sowa is excited about what the near future holds for this group, highlighted by the senior class that was honored this weekend.
 
"We're so proud of our seniors," Sowa said. "They represent everything we want out of student-athletes and we're so proud of how they represent us as a school. We're looking forward to the next month to figure out who we are and what we want to be."