Editor’s Note: The Nevada Sagebrush sends its condolences to the University of Wyoming and its community over the loss of three of their athletes: Charlie Clark, Carson Muir and Luke Slabber, who tragically passed away in a car accident on Feb. 22.
The Nevada swim and dive team had a historic meet this past weekend from Feb. 21 to 24, placing on the podium nine times, six of them setting new school records and all of them in the top three of their respective books.
On the first day of the event, the 200 medley team consisting of Scarlett Ferris, Sara Mihalic, Yasmin Perry and Evie Floate took home a bronze medal with a time of 1:38.52, putting them in the history books as the second fastest time in school history.
Nevada stacked up three more medals and records during the second day of events. The first came from Frederica Kizek, who in the 500 freestyle event, swam a time of 4:44.85, getting her second place in the event and marking her second in the school’s history.
Later in the day, Melissa Mirafuentes, diver, got second place in the three-meter springboard event with a score of 71.55.
The last event Nevada placed in was the 400 medley event. The team, which consisted of Perry, Ferris, Floate and Mihalic once again, swam a time of 3:36.14. Their efforts earned them second place in the event and first in school history. These were not the only accolades from the 400 medley event, as Ferris, during her 100 backstroke split, broke the school record for the split with a time of 52.14 seconds.
As the third day came and went, Nevada added two more podium finishes and three more school records. To start the day, Perry swam a time of 53.26 in the 100 butterfly event. While it didn’t get her on the podium, Perry’s time did put her in the school record books, taking third all time in the event for the school.
Later on, Kizek swam in the 400 individual medley event, finishing with a time of 4:13.61. Kizek got second place in the event and put herself third in Nevada’s record books.
Nevada’s highlight of the day was Ferris in the 100 backstroke. The freshman from Scotland swam a time of 51.49 seconds, which nabbed her first place and broke the meet and conference record for the event.
The Wolf Pack rounded out their conference tournament appearance with three podium appearances and one more record. Kizek earned her third medal of the meet in the 1650 freestyle event, finishing with a time of 16:11.82 to claim first place and setting a new school record.
Perry took home one more medal as well in the 200 butterfly event. She swam a time of 1:57.85, adding a second place finish to her meet resume. And lastly, Mirafuentes took third place in the platform diving event with an overall score of 310.60.
With all of the hardware under their belt, the swim and dive team will take a week off, then go to Westmont, Illinois to compete in the TYR Pro Series from March 7 to 9.
Derek Raridon can be reached via email derekraridon@nevada.unr.edu or via Twitter @TheBigCountry14
