@UNCOSwim_Dive Finishes Strong at Omaha Invite

Friday, December 4

Omaha, Neb.

ALL DAY

University of Northern Colorado

Omaha Invite

12/5/2015 7:39:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving

The Bears took second place at the Invite out of seven competing schools

OMAHA, Neb. – The Northern Colorado Bears closed out its two-day competition at the Omaha Invite on Saturday, finishing second overall out of seven schools, with 794 points.

"We had a better night tonight [Saturday]," head coach Kelly McClanahan said. "Girls swam better than they did this morning, and we seemed to fight more for our races. After this weekend, I am still hoping this team finds a way to dig down and find a little more grit to get through the season, though. We are going to have to give more at conference than what we did the past two days."

FRIDAY
On the first day of competition, the Bears had two first place finishers, three second place finishers, and three third place finishers, and finished second overall with 301 team points.

To kick off the races, the Northern Colorado 200 yard freestyle relay team of Sydney Kovar, Valeria Mihhailova, Kim Kuni, and Karlie O'Connell would finish second overall with a combined finals time of 1:37.76, .04 seconds faster than their prelims run.

Laura Ramirez earned third place in the 400 yard IM with a time of 4:38.30. Barrett and Lexi Peterson picked up season best times in the event, finishing at 4.38.62 and 4.44.35, respectively.

Courtney Chrzas also earned a third place finish, touching the wall at 1:07.06 in her finals race in the 100 breast. Chrzas also picked up a season best time in the 50 free with a prelims time of 26.03.

In the 50 free, Mihhailova landed another Bear third-placement, finishing at 24.52. Her 2:08.07 prelims time in the 200 back is also her new season-best time in the event.

Brianna Salanitro broke even at 2:06.00 in the 200 back, picking up a second place overall finish and a new season best time in the event.

"Bri has led the charge for the team on Friday. She had an excellent morning and even better night. The more she learns how to swim her races the better she gets."

Ramirez earned one of the two first-place finishes for the Bears on the day, landing a time of 56.88 in her finals race in the 100 yard butterfly. This run also serves as her new season best in the event.

O'Connell's 50 free prelims time will replace her season best, too, at 24.71. She set another season best in the 100 fly with her prelims time of 1:00.04.

"Laura, Lexi, Kimura and Carleigh redeemed themselves in the 400 IM tonight. Laura and Kim had great 100 fly races, sitting right at what they did at Houston."

Mihhailova, Chrzas, Ramirez, and O'Connell's 400 medley relay team notched a second place finish in the finals, besting their prelims time by five seconds even at 3:55.64.

In the 1650 free, Sydney Kovar picked up first place with a time of 17:42.26 in the finals, and Jenny Brown earned third with a finals time of 17:47.57.

Additionally, Sydney Kimura set a season best time in the event, finishing in the finals at 18:12.94.

The divers competed on the 3M on Friday, with Taylor Walsh taking first with a score of 253.40 in the finals.

"Friday was a really good day overall," diving coach Chelsea Popplewell said. "Taylor was able to pull out a win with very close to her season best - about 7 points off. Haley is battling some adversity right now but still fought tough and ended up fifth. The girls are looking pretty good for this time of the year and I think the consistency is really starting to kick in."

SATURDAY
Saturday was even more successful for the swimmers with three first placers, five second placers, and three third placers. The Bears managed to tack on 483 points on the day as well.

In the 200 yard medley relay, Mihhailova, Chrzas, Ramirez, and Kuni earned a time of 1:48.75 to finish second in the event.

Ramirez would take second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:10.95, a second faster than her prelims run. Her 200 fly finals time of 2:06.29 would earn her a first place finish as well.

"I am very proud of how Laura has been swimming," McClanahan said. "She's really pushed past some adversity to make success happen for herself."

Carleigh Barrett would finish her finals race of the 500 free six seconds faster than her prelims time, at 5:06.36. Barrett picked up a season best in the 200 fly as well, finishing less than a second behind Ramirez at 2:06.81.

Sydney Kovar came in less than a second behind Barrett in the 500 free for a second place finish.

Mihhailova picked up another first place finish for UNC in the 100 back, stopping the clock in the finals at 57.84. Salanitro took third, touching the wall at 59.56 in the event.

Chrzas managed third in the 200 back after posting a time of 2:27.07 in the finals.

In the 100 free, O'Connell set a season best with a 53.42 time in the finals, also for a third place finish in the event.

Jenny Brown set a season best in the 100 free as well after finishing at 55.85 in the prelims.

To close out the Invitational, Kovar, Mihhailova, O'Connell, and Kuni picked up second place in the 400 yard freestyle relay, finishing the finals seven seconds faster than they did in the prelims, touching the wall at 3:34.18. The time is this team-of-four's best on the season so far.

"Laura, Karlie and Bri had a great meet and put up some season best times this weekend; Karlie in all her events. Our 400 free was also a season best time and we had some great splits."

The second day proved successful for the Bear divers as well, competing on the 1M and taking both first and second place (Schneider and Walsh, respectively). Schneider set a season best of 229.15, while Walsh earned a score of 223.95.

"A two-day meet is always tiring," Popplewell added, "but the girls really rallied and pulled out some really good dives. Haley earned her first collegiate win today along with the highest scoring dive of the meet. I think that will really be a confidence boost for her going forward. Taylor had four dives that were very consistent and were very good dives. Overall this weekend went really, really well. I'm really proud of how they competed both days and it showed. Winter training will be a time to rest up a little and get healthy and then get right back to work."

The Invitational concludes the 2015 portion of the team's schedule, but they'll return to the pool on Jan. 15-16 when they travel to Air Force for a two-day quad-dual against Air Force, South Dakota, and Seattle.

For more information on the Bears this season, check out UNCBears.com, visit their official Facebook page, and follow them on Twitter at @UNCOSwim_Dive.