Swim & Dive take all three duals at Air Force on day 1

Friday, January 8

USAF Academy

University of Northern Colorado

121

120

Air Force

1/8/2021 7:34:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving

FINAL RESULTS

By: By Thomas Hoffman, UNCBears.com

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A perfect start to 2021. At least for the Northern Colorado Swim and Dive program.

In a quad dual featuring the Air Force Academy, the Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa, UNC swept all three matchups Friday evening in a performance that featured seven wins for head coach Lisa Ebeling and the Bears.

UNC beat the Falcons (121-120), bested the Orediggers (173.5-52.5) and cruised by the Mavericks (127-114).

Northern Colorado kickstarted the evening with its season-best swim in the 200-yard medley relay (1:43.25), setting a tone for the rest of the evening.

Seconds later, junior Anna Austin would continue her winning ways in the long-distance events. The Arvada native notched season-bests in both the 1,000 free (10:35.96) and the 500 free (5:08.01).

Freshmen Saana Liikonen and Katelyn Bergin continue to pile up impressive performances in their first year in the Blue and Gold.

Liikonen swam her best 50 free of the season (23.64) which not only won the event but makes the Finland native the six-best performer in program history in the event.

Meanwhile, Bergin played an integral role in both winning relays and turned in a 100 fly time of 56.14, good enough to make her the seventh-best performer in UNC history.

Although Paula Nunez Blazquez didn't win the heat in the 200 IM, the sophomore delivered a personal-best 2:05.71, edging out her time from a season ago by two-tenths of a second.

Junior Madelyn Moore also started the New Year off with a bang. Taking home the 100 free with a time of 50.14 (8 tenths of a second off her personal best and school record), her night was also sandwiched by both winning relays.

Speaking of relays. Needing a solid effort to cap off what had already been an impressive evening, Madelyn Moore, Ali Jackson, Katelyn Bergin and Saana Liikonen outswam everyone to take home the final event of the night and secure the victory over all three schools in the quad dual format.

Northern Colorado's divers finally got their first taste of competition this season. Tori Sayers led the charge in the 1-meter portion, scoring 207.50. Freshman Erica Farris made her debut, scoring 183.55in the 1-meter and 171.55 in the 3-meter.

DECK TALK
Lisa Ebeling, Head Coach
"I'm proud of our girls for stepping up and taking advantage of the opportunity to race today. We talked about swimming tough, and they did a great job of getting their hands on the wall first. We need to focus on cleaning up some technical details going into tomorrow."

WHAT'S AHEAD
Get the alarm clock ready for tomorrow morning when the Bears get set for another quad dual with Air Force, The Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa at 9 a.m.

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