HOUSTON - Janelle Lucas completed a career sweep of the platform diving event, becoming the first four-time platform champion in Western Athletic Conference history with another exhilarating performance Friday, at the WAC Swimming and Diving Championships. Lucas' title highlighted a productive evening for Idaho after a morning session that did not go its way. The Vandals end the night in third place with 352 points, slightly ahead of Cal Baptist (348) and Northern Colorado (346.5).
Lucas scored 253.15 to win by 13 points, but it took a pair of big dives at the end of her list to claim the title. Trailing by 10 through three rounds, Lucas dialed up a 61.60 on her fourth dive - the second-best score she has ever received on an inward two-and-a-half somersault pike off of 10 meter. She followed that with a 53.20 on her final dive to win going away and become just the third woman in WAC history to sweep a an individual event in swimming or diving. Lucas also brought her career point total at conference championships to 165. That is the most by a diver in program history and the second most by any Vandal swimmer or diver in individual events.
"I'm so happy that I was able to rally," Lucas said. "Winning platform wasn't as likely this year with Cal Baptist joining the conference, so to do it this way kind of pulls my whole career together. I knew the fourth dive was going to have to be my saving grace. I was hyper focused and thought about every correction my coach has given me on that dive and it paid off."
Nikki Imanaka and
Heather Carbon wrapped up the most successful conference championships of their careers with personal bests on platform. Imanaka and Carbon both recorded their top score on platform in prelims before improving them in finals. Imanaka took fourth in the championship final with a 229.45. Carbon finished fourth in the consolation final for a 12th-place overall finish at 197.55.
"These meets have personalities and every team has its ebbs and flows," said head coach
Mark Sowa. "We were really good the first two days and we got off to a rocky start this morning. I think some kids tried a little too hard in spots and the first two events were really tough. We were able to salvage enough scoring swims at the end to put us in a position to come back tonight and really take it to some people."
Leah Fisk took second place in the 200-yard freestyle and
Katie Hale earned a bronze medal in the 100-yard backstroke. Fisk and Hale also book ended Idaho's relay for the second night in a row, this time helping the 400-yard medley relay team take fifth place with the third-fastest time in program history, 3:43.65. The Vandals finished two spots ahead of Cal Baptist, breaking a tie in the team standings and giving Idaho the narrow edge headed into the final day of competition.
After cruising through her prelim heat and entering the championship final of the 200 freestyle as the second seed, Fisk went for the win from the gun. She got out fast and stayed ahead until the final turn, ultimately clocking a 1:48.76 and a runner-up finish. It is the fifth-best time in school history and just a quarter second off her career best, which was set a year ago when she won the conference title. Fisk, who transferred to Idaho after her freshman season, finished in the top two of the 200 freestyle at each of her three WAC Championships.
Hale swam a career-best 55.39 in prelims of the 100 backstroke, the fastest time by a Vandal in five years and ninth fastest in school history. Her 55.44 in finals is the 10th fastest time. It also gave her a third-place finish, Idaho's best result in the event since 2014.
Idaho received one of its biggest boosts in the 100-yard breaststroke when
Aimee Iwamoto and
Cassie Dallas both swam career bests to qualify for the championship final, Dallas doing so while also making the consolation final of the 400-yard individual medley. The duo held their positions at night, placing seventh and eighth. It is the sixth time multiple Vandals have earned top-eight finishes in the 100 breaststroke at a WAC Championship meet, the most of any swimming event in program history.
During prelims, Idaho was caught on the outside looking in four times in the first two events. The Vandals occupied both the ninth and 17th positions in both the 400-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly, one swimmer just missing out on the top flight in each race and one narrowly missing out on the consolation final in each race. Those who did get the chance to swim at night made the most of it. Idaho picked up six more scoring swims in the consolation finals, including four who moved up from their seed after prelims.
Brianna Lucien won the B final of the 400 individual medley, while Dallas took fifth to finish 13th overall. Lucien's time of 4:25.40 is the eighth-fastest time in school history.
Aileen Pannecoucke dropped more than a second from prelims to finals in the 200 freestyle, finishing fourth in the consolation final.
Lauren Votava also bettered her time at night, adding to the strong 100 breaststroke contingent with a 1:05.03 to take fourth in the B final.
Emily Kliewer scored in the 100-yard butterfly for the fourth straight year. Kliewer took 10th overall, with a second-place showing in the consolation final. Freshman
Emily Deitz picked up the first points of her career at a conference championship, taking 16th in the 100 backstroke.
The meet concludes Saturday, with prelims beginning at 10:30 a.m. CT and finals taking place at 6 p.m. CT. The third-day event lineup features the 1650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard freestyle relay. Follow the WAC meet at
Championship Central and by following @VandalSwim_Dive on Twitter.
