Swimming & Diving Concludes Amazing Four Day Championship
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Championship Results
HOUSTON, Texas - The fourth and final day of the Conference USA swimming & diving championship proved to be more of the same for Northern Colorado - nothing short of sensational. The Bears posted season-best times in every race and saw one school record fall.
Despite being one of three invitational members and not counting in the final standings, the conference did a scoring with all nine teams and the Bears tallied 200 points to finish eighth overall, defeating Marshall. SMU won its fifth-straight title scoring 707 points in the nine-team rankings.
Junior Tori Gutt finished eighth overall in the 200 breaststroke, swimming a 2:19.90 after clocking a 2:19.27 in the preliminaries to break her own school record of 2:20.71 from a year ago.
Freshman Tatum Boehnke shaved almost an entire minute off her career-best time in the 1650 freestyle, finishing 11th overall with a time of 17:26.71. She then just missed the finals in the 200 butterfly, finishing 17th in 2:11.86 but cutting over 11 seconds off her career best, while fellow freshman Brianna Lanute shaved over three seconds off her career best time finishing right behind Boehnke in 2:12.85.
"The girls really finished strong tonight," said Head Coach Kelly McClanahan. "Tori battled as best she could in the 200 breast but just ran out of steam. To come back in the top eight is a huge accomplishment for her and the team. Tatum also was just phenomenal with her mile time. As a freshman to do what she did is amazing."
In the platform diving, an event the Bears competed in for just the second time this year, senior Sarah Cook scored 182.10 points to finish fourth, while junior Kelly Schmeckpeper-Cook finished seventh with 159.95 points.
"Sarah and Kelly really showed up this weekend, scoring on all three boards. Sarah scoring four and Kelly seven on platform is beyond words. They only had one opportunity to train on the platform this year, so to take two spots in the top seven is absolutely amazing.
In the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, the quartet of JJ Smith, Gutt, Cheryl Bready and Dawn Adams clocked a 3:32.21 to place eighth. The team took over eight seconds off the previous season best, showing to the end how strong this Bears team is.
"The team really went into battle this week and they really proved to themselves and this conference they are here to play and fight their way to the top of the conference in the years to come. We doubled our point total from a year ago and to be only 70 points back of sixth place is proof of the heart and determination of this team. We are young and we will come back next year to knock off more teams."
