Results

LA MIRADA, Calif. – The Alaska Nanooks women's swim team competed in day two of the Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference Championships on Thursday, participating in the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard individual medley at the Splash Aquatic Center on the Biola University campus.

Following the second day of competition, Alaska sits in ninth place in the women's team standings with 186 points. Unlike some of the other PCSC programs in the championships, Alaska does not sponsor diving, therefore, the team scores are lower than others that sponsor both swimming and diving.

Senior Kate Mathews and sophomore Oda Bygdnes were the only individual competitors for the Nanooks on Thursday, both racing in the 200-yard IM preliminaries and finals. Mathews placed 12th overall in the preliminary race, posting a time of 2:08.05. The Salem, Oregon native's time was only 00:01.04 behind first place overall's Alexandra Rodman (UC San Diego), who touched out at 2:07.09.

Bygdnes placed fourth in her heat and 24th overall in the 200 IM with a total time of 2:10.95.

In the 200 IM finals, Mathews placed 11th overall with a time of 2:05.61, over three seconds faster than her preliminary time for 16 points. Mathews' time was a season-best, as she just missed an NCAA "B" cut time.

Bygdnes followed suite with a 17th place finish in the finals with a time of 2:07.86 for nine points. Bygdnes' finals time is a lifetime-best for the Harstad, Norway native, moving her up to the No. 7 position on Alaska swimming's All-Time Top Ten list in the event.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Alaska placed sixth of the 13-team field, posting a time of 1:37.56 for 48 points. The Alaska squad consisted of Bygdnes, freshman Erika Kakazu, senior Katie Stark and Mathews. Cal State East Bay registered the fastest relay time of the day, posting a 1:34.79.

"The forecast for tomorrow is continuing to be hot, as is the forecast for Saturday," head coach Scott Lemley said on Thursday. "It's pretty challenging for us to stay in the shade and drink enough water to keep the heat's negative effects from hurting our performances. Tomorrow should be a good day with many of our swimmers having their best events coming up."

The Alaska Nanooks swim team will continue their stay at the conference championships tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 15), which will consist of the 400-yard individual medley, the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard breaststroke, the 100-yard backstroke and the 400-yard medley relay starting at 8:30am AKST.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks swim team, follow @NanooksSwim on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Swimming team page on Facebook.