Jan. 17, 2008

Complete Results

Staff Report
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Published January 12, 2008

Loyola Marymount more than doubled up the Alaska Nanooks in a relay meet Thursday in Maui, Hawaii, but coach Scott Lemley was hardly discouraged.

"(LMU has) loads of depth and a lot of talent. I suspect they'll be our conference champions this year," Lemley reported via e-mail. "And they are exactly where I want our team to be in three or four years."

The NCAA Division I Lions won all seven relays and took the meet 126-58.

"Right now, our best three or four swimmers are as good or nearly as good as their best three or four girls," Lemley said. "That won't win a dual meet, much less a conference championship, but it does go a long way toward taking the sting out of losing to them. We know it's just a matter of time before we're going to be competitive with them."

Alaska's best performance may have been the third-place finish of the 400-yard medley relay. Sophomore Jacqueline van Driessche, freshman Mariya Pavlovskaya, freshman Heidi Tilicki and junior Samantha Zinsli finished in 4 minutes, 17.26 seconds, and within range of LMU's winning 4:11.53 time.

The Nanooks may have been even closer had sophomore standout Kelly Becker, the team's only swimmer to qualify for the NCAA DII Championships last year, made the trip to Hawaii.

The Nanooks took second in four relays, not bad considering the high-volume training they've put in during the 10-day trip.

"(Today) we will once again get up at 4:30 a.m. and be in the pool getting our heart rates up to 120 by 5:30 a.m.," Lemley said. "It's our last training day and we don't want to miss the opportunity."

The Nanooks return home later today and will host California Baptist Jan. 19-20 at the Patty Center.