The first-ever Cougar women’s swimming & diving program makes its national debut at the 29th Annual NAIA Championship Meet at the St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Mo., just outside of St. Louis.
Eleven Cougars will compete over the course of the 3-day meet in search of All-America recognition and what first-year coach Robert Fleming hopes will be a top ten finish among the more than 20 schools competing at this year’s meet.
“It’s been a great first year for us,” said Fleming. “We’ve had some very strong performances and certainly have not acted like a first-year program.”
Azusa Pacific’s makes its NAIA debut at 10 a.m. (CST) Thursday in the prelims of 200-yard medley relay in which Stacey Wong (back), Parisa Dana (breast), Kaylen Hewko (fly) and Jannelle Stacey (fly) will attempt to put the Cougars into the finals later that evening.
For Hewko, Azusa Pacific’s standout swimmer and leading candidate to snag All-America recognition, the relay will be the first of 7 events in which she competes. Along with the other 3 relays, she has also qualified in the 100 and 200 fly and the 1650 free.
Likewise, Wong will log a lot of water time. She too will swim in all 4 relays and then individually compete in the 100 and 200 back along with the 200 individual medley.
The meet features 4 women’s finals on Thursday, 8 on Friday, including the 3-meter dive, and then concludes Saturday with 6 more finals.
Click here to view the entire meet schedule. Meet results can be obtained on the NAIA website.
Azusa Pacific NAIA Championship Meet Roster
Shawna Barnett -- 100 & 200 fly
Sarah Burney -- 100 & 200 breast
Parisa Dana -- 50 free, 100 & 200 breast
Carrie Dotson -- 50 & 100 free
Kaylen Hewko – 100 & 200 fly, 1650 free
Karla Hill -- 500, 200, 1650 free
Patti Navarro -- 200 fly, 400 IM
Jannelle Stacey -- 50 & 100 free
Amy Syres – 100 & 200 back
Lauren Wichhart -- 100 & 200 breast
Stacey Wong -- 100 & 200 back, 200 IM
Relays
200 medley
800 free
200 free
400 medley
