Panther swimmers and divers dominate Valparaiso

TONI FORTMANN

The UNI swimming and diving team had a fantastic showing on Friday, defeating Valpo 171-53.

DAVID WARRINGTON, Sports Editor

This past Friday, the UNI Panthers women’s swimming and diving team hosted the Valparaiso Beacons at the Glen F. Henry Swimming & Diving Pool in Cedar Falls. It was a dominant showing from the Panthers, winning nine individual races, both of the diving competitions, as well as sweeping both of the relays on the way to taking down Valpo 171-53.

Natalia Verastegui took two individual crowns, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 25.01, as well as the 500-yard freestyle in 5:22.06. In the 50, Verastegui just managed to edge out teammate Taylor Short, who was second at 25.02. Another Panther, Abby McCorkle, was third at 25.10.

In the 400-yard individual medley, freshman Olivia Chambers got her first collegiate victory, winning in 4:42.17. Two other Panthers rounded out the top three. Lily Ernst was second at 4:44.99 and Meghan Pallet was third at 4:51.22.

Taylor Hogan had a dominant performance on the boards. Hogan won both the one-meter diving, scoring 268.27 points, as well as winning the three-meter diving, scoring 269.40 points.

The Panthers also performed well in the relays. In the 200-yard medley, the team of Scout Bergwall, Ema Lavigne, Payton Hall and Faith Larsen were the winners at 1:48.17. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Hallory Domnick, Clare Christensen, Liz Purtle and Waren Graeve took the crown at 1:39.77.

With the win, the Panthers improve to 2-2 on the season. UNI will be back in action when they travel to the Coyote Extravaganza in Sioux Falls, S.D. The competition will take place this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 5-6.