Dixie State University’s women’s swim team excelled this week at the Loyola Marymount University’s Lion Cup in California.
The Trailblazers came in fourth overall, and set 25 new team and personal records.
“I was pleased with our team effort this past weekend,” head coach Benjamin Rae said. “We swam a heavy event line-up designed to prepare us for the conference championship meet against three challenging opponents, two division I programs and a top 20 division II program.”
DSU earned a total of 143.5 points, which put them only 12.5 points behind third place Alaska-Fairbanks.
“We have been training really hard lately.” said freshman Saydria Russel, a nursing major from Worland Wyoming. “My last race was not a personal best, but as we look forward to the last few meets and begin to shorten our yardage, I am expecting larger time drops and some personal bests.”
In addition to the victory as a team, the Trailblazers had many girls achieve success in their own events. Freshman Audrey Parrish finished in the top-four in two of her events, and Kayla Greer took second in the 200 backstroke.
“Even without resting for the meet, we competed hard and still achieved a few season-best times,” Rae said. “Based on our performance this past weekend, I feel we are in good shape heading into our final dual meets of the season this weekend and conference championships next month.”
Grace Kroll, Megan Draney and Millie Snelders, all freshmen, also finished in the top-four in their respective events. Katie Pack, a freshman from Spanish Fork also did outstanding in the Freestyle 1000.
“Pack did a really good job. We are at a tough time in the season, and it is hard to beat times when you swim tired.” said Assistant Coach Jamie Beckstrand.
“We are trying to go from laps in the pool, and focus more on being fast and explosive.” said Beckstrand.
They were beat only by Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. They will be returning to California Friday, to compete against Mills College.
