MOSCOW, Idaho - The Idaho swimming and diving team dropped both of its meets in its first full-team road trip of the young 2021-22 season. On Friday, the Vandals fell 89-211 to an undefeated Colorado State club in their final tune-up before the start of WAC competition. The next day, in their first official WAC meet of the season, Idaho lost 91-207 to a strong Northern Colorado team, whose only blemish so far this season was a close 195.5-213 loss to Colorado State at the Intermountain Shootout earlier this month.
 
Friday, October 22  vs Colorado State

Friday's dual with Colorado State was originally scheduled at CSU's Moby Pool in Fort Collins, but a broken pool pump forced the competition to Greeley, CO. Unfortunately, the move away from CSU's home pool didn't seem to phase the Rams, as they started the meet going 1-2 in the 200-yd Medley Relay, and never looked back. The Rams found a way to win every race throughout the meet.

Kaling Phung and Morgan Votava, both juniors, finished second and third in the 100-yd Backstroke, scoring seven points in the event for the Vandals, with respective times of 59.21 and 1:00.67. 

Freshman diver Heather Hopkins took second in three-meter diving with a score of 285.23, tallying four points for the Vandals. Juniors Hailey Faith and Allison Shimp tied for fifth-place, each posting scores of 252.75 to earn one point for Idaho.

Other bright spots in the dual included junior Haylee Buyers taking third in the 200-yd Backstroke with a time of 2:10:06, and freshman Laura Rodriguez-Fernandez posted a 2:27.01 time in the 200-yd Breaststroke, good for second place and scoring four points for the Vandals.
 
Saturday, October 23 vs Northern Colorado

Saturday's meet was the Western Athletic Conference opener for Idaho, ending in a 91-207 loss to a strong Northern Colorado team. The Bears improved to 8-1 overall on the season.

UNC jumped out to an early lead, winning the first seven events of the day. But the Vandal diving squad went 1-2-3 in the 1-Meter Dive to collect 16 points for the Silver & Gold. Freshman Heather Hopkins again led the Vandal divers with a score of 257.63, followed by Emily Mack (243.00) and Allison Shimp (219.45).  

Later in the meet, Hopkins, Mack, and Shimp also took the top-three spots in the 3-meter dive, collecting another 16 points for Idaho.

Freshman Laura Rodriguez-Fernandez continued to impress by taking second-place in the 200-yd Breaststroke, posting a time of 2:28.51. Fellow freshman Caitlin Smith battled from behind to finish second in the 100-yd Butterfly with a time of 1:01.09. 

In the last individual event of the day, sophomore Zoe Froh (2:14.04) took second in the 200-yd IM, with sisters Haylee Buyers (2:18.01) and Amelia Buyers (2:18.35) taking third and fourth-place, respectively.
 
WHAT'S AHEAD

Up next, the Vandals will have a week off before heading to Seattle for a WAC dual with Seattle University on Saturday, November 6th. 

To stay up to date on all things Idaho Swim and Dive, visit GoVandals.com, follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the new Vandal Athletics app by clicking here.