LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State women's swimming and diving closed out the weekend on a high note as swimming defeated Northern Arizona, 184-148, on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, the diving team fared well on day two of the Northern Arizona Diving Invite.
 
"This was a great format and experience for the team," head coach Rick Pratt said. "We didn't have a fall invite this year, so we wanted to have a meet that still gave us a chance to practice the championship format, meaning that all the girls got to swim their three or four main events. Everyone got to do some relays and we got to see a different angle from their swims than we normally would out of a quick dual meet where they only swim three or four events. Our goal was to have some great mid-season swims and I think we really accomplished that. We had a lot of great performances. At the end of the day, everyone is really motivated moving into the next month of training, which is going to be a really important part of the year for us. I'm really excited where we're at right now and I think we're in a really good place. Our focus is always on the WAC at the end of the year and this was definitely an experience that's going to help us prepare for that.  
 
NM State's Eliana Beaudry, Hanna McGowan, Reagan Nentwich and Ruby Rodriguez claimed the top spot in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:44.02.  The team of Lauren Hazel, Hope Williams, Alina Staffeldt and Roni Houck finished second for NAU with a time of 1:44.22, followed by the team of Alix Knagg, Lauren Wood, Makena Sutherland and Aimee Hatfield with a time of 1:45.92.
 
In the 500-yard freestyle, Monique King (4:57.52), Sam Milewski (4:59.39) and Kimmy Richter (4:59.80) finished in first, second and third, respectively for Northern Arizona.
 
The Aggies swept the top-two positions in the 100-yard butterfly when Nentwich posted a time of 55.57, while Katherine Harston recorded a time of 57.12. Andrea Schmidt clocked a time of 57.41 to finish third.
 
In the 200-yard IM, Sarah Takach finished in first-place with a time of 2:04.22, followed by Wood with a time of 2:06.29. Knagg secured a third-place finish with a time of 2:06.71.
 
At the conclusion of the 50-yard freestyle, Houck finished in first for NAU with a time of 23.64, while NM State's Rodriguez placed second with a time of 24.00. Sutherland recorded a time of 24.41 to finish in third-place for the Aggies.
 
In the 800-yard freestyle relay, NAU's Richter, King, Milewski and Hammond finished in first with a time 7:35.06, while Picabo Bender, Grace Laporte, Wegel and Knagg followed up in second for the Aggies with a time of 7:38.19. The team of Alice Hick, Niamh McDonagh, Houck and Takach finished in third with a posted time of 7:43.76.
 
Diving coach Miranda King and the diving squad were consistent at the Northern Arizona Diving Invite during Saturday's three-meter diving event.
 
MacKinna Hauff closed out the three-meter diving event in 13th place with a score of 270.35. Raina Brommer placed 28th after recording a score of 210.50 while Sheridan Decker posted a score of 189.10 to finish 30th. Nevada's Sharae Zheng claimed the top spot with a score of 356.35, while Arizona State's Frida Kaellgren (333.25) and Mara Aiacoboae (316.90) placed second and third, respectively.
 
"The girls dove fairly consistently today," said King. "MacKinna (Hauff) was 1.6 points away from making the finals, which is always a tough spot to be in. I am proud of the girls. It's been a long month of training, traveling and battling injuries and the girls are hanging in there. We have our first platform event of the season tomorrow and the girls are excited for that."
 
The platform dive at the NAU Diving Invite is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 19, at 11 a.m. (MT).