DENVER - Northern Arizona's Alina Staffeldt and Chelsea Jackson have been named Western Athletic Conference Swimmer and Diver of the week, respectively, for Nov. 9-Nov. 15.
Staffeldt, a sophomore from Hannover, Germany (Humboldtschule Hannover) posted four individual victories and was a part of one relay victory this past weekend, as NAU defeated Air Force and Northern Colorado and lost to Wyoming in dual meets. In the double dual at Wyoming and versus Air Force on Friday, Staffeldt won the 200 butterfly by nearly three seconds with a time of 2:04.85. She narrowly finished second in the 100 fly with a time of 57.04. Staffeldt immediately got NAU started in a convincing team win over WAC opponent Northern Colorado, swimming the third leg of NAU's 400 medley relay team. She then completed a perfect meet by winning the 200 fly (2:08.78), 100 freestyle (54.34) and 50 fly (26.28).
Jackson, a senior from Flagstaff, Ariz. (Northland Prep) swept the diving events versus Northern Colorado, winning the 1-meter board with a score of 279.98 and posting a season-best score of 270.91 on 3-meter to win that event as well. Jackson, who also finished third on 1-meter versus Air Force and Wyoming, now has three dual meet wins this season.
Other swimmer nominees: Northern Colorado's Valeria Mihhailova helped pick up a huge win over Colorado School of Mines on Friday night (Diving did not count for this meet) with three individual wins and a team win in the 200 medley relay. Also picked up a first place individual finish against Northern Arizona, but the highlight of the meet was in the last event (200 free relay) when she pulled out a 24.08 anchor split to beat out the Northern Arizona team by a hundredth of a second for the win [also this teams fastest time this season].
Other diver nominees: Northern Colorado's Taylor Walsh added to the total score by placing third in the 3m with a score of 249.38 and fifth in the 1m with a score of 228.75.