FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – On Friday, NM State Swimming & Diving took on Northern Arizona in a road dual. The Lumberjacks entered as winners of 12 straight WAC titles with hopes of maintaining their success through both squads' first year in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The visitors prevailed 191.5-108.5, handing NM State its second straight dual defeat. The Aggies trek to Phoenix tomorrow for a day at Grand Canyon's pool, starting at 11:00 AM.
 
Head Coach Rick Pratt, on the meet: "Traveling up to Flagstaff is always a big challenge. Despite the loss, the score does not show how well we competed. Our freestylers were strong today with Katie [Rink] and Dijana [Mazumdar] swimming the fastest times in the MPSF as of today. Dreamer [Kowatch] also had an incredible day swimming right on her best time winning the 200, and also with a conference-leading swim. Mira [Tinani] had a strong day qualifying for zones on the 3m and that group is making strides every week. We had mostly all season-best swims today and have much to be proud of. Hats off to NAU for swimming lights out; they competed very well and are always a tough team. We're excited for tomorrow, which will be another chance to get better and keep competing.
 
Across the 16 events, NM State collected five first-place finishes and 16 of 48 podium spots. Dreamer Kowatch (200 free) earned a gold while Katie Rink (1000 free, 500 free) and Dijana Mazumdar (50 free, 100 free) each finished first in two events. 
 
Mira Tinani wowed with a score of 281.78 in the 3m dive, qualifying for another trip to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in March. The junior already clinched a spot in the 1m competition after her stellar 299.63 score against Northern Colorado on Oct. 25. 
 
The day began with a 2-3 finish for NM State in the 200 medley relay. Kira Brownell, Kodi Wiman, Emily Dobbins and Dijana Mazumdar (1:42.08) made up the A group, while Thea Masselink, Faye McDonagh, Willow Messner and Caroline Costantini were not far behind (1:43.93).
 
In the 1000 free, Katie Rink (10:23.31) saw her teammate Estel Galo grab a third-place finish at 11:13.26. Later, Dreamer Kowatch's gold medal in the 200 free (1:52.58) came less than a half second before freshman Natalia Florian touched the wall in second (1:52.99).
 
Mazumdar dominated the middle of the day with gold-medal times of 23.29 and 50.25 in the 50 free and 100 free, respectively. Later, Florian added a third-place time of 5:12.77 in the 500 free, behind teammate Katie Rink in first (5:02.38).
 
Elsewhere, Faye McDonagh picked up a third-place finish in the 200 IM before the 400 free relay capped off the day. While NAU took the top spot at 3:23.98, NM State rounded out the podium, highlighted by Dobbins, Mazumdar, Kowatch and Rink at 3:24.51.
 
UP NEXT
On Saturday, the squad will trek to Phoenix for a clash at Grand Canyon. Other schools competing will include Simon Fraser, Arizona Christian and OUAZ. Saturday's matchup starts at 11:00 AM and will have live statistics available on Swimcloud and dive results at divemeets.com.
 
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