MOSCOW, Idaho – The Idaho swim team earned its first win of 2022, defeating Simon Fraser, 183-132 at the UI Swim Center on Sunday morning. The Vandals won nine events in the two-day dual meet.
Previously, the PNW Invite was scheduled to be a quad meet with Washington State and Seattle U before both programs had to withdraw due to Covid-19 protocols.
"I am really impressed with how well our student-athletes were able to refocus when things got a little strange and did a great job of getting better this weekend," said head coach
Mark Sowa.
The Vandals kicked off day one with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay.
Ani Husaby,
Haily Oldham,
Rylie Jones, and
Ella Haskins teamed up to finish in 1:47.45 and take an early lead over Simon Fraser. Jones added a win in the 200-yard freestyle. The top-3 spots came down to the wire, but she was able to beat Simon Fraser's Tori Meklensek by 0.30 seconds, finishing in 1:55.25.
Senior
Natalie Crocker put up an impressive performance in the 50-yard freestyle, earning the top spot in 23.85 while
Kaling Phung came in second with a time of 24.31. The pair followed that up with another victory for Idaho in the 200-yard freestyle relay with teammates Haskins and R. Jones, finishing in 1:37.18.
Zoe Froh continued where she left off in 2021, picking up two individual wins. She took first place in the 400-yard individual medley, clocking in at 4:29.94 followed by second-place finisher
Haylee Buyers in 4:38.93. On day two, Froh dominated in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:29.06.
The final event of the dual meet saw the Vandals pick up a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay. R. Jones, Haskins,
Rilie Krieg, and Phung finished in 3:31.94 and were able to fend off Simon Fraser by 0.10 seconds.
Next up: The Vandals will take a week off before traveling to St. George, Utah to face conference foe Dixie State on Jan. 29.
"We don't have much time left in our year," said Sowa. "This is our championship run so we are looking forward to every time we have an opportunity to race. We are just trying to fine-tune our details. We are looking forward to matching up with a good opponent (Dixie State)."
To stay up to date on all things Idaho Swim and Dive, visit GoVandals.com and follow the team on Instagram and Twitter at @vandalswim_dive.
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