Grizzlies Swim in Final Home Meet and Senior Meet

Jessica Palacio
The Paw Print

The ASU Men’s and Women’s swim team competed in their final home meet of the season on November 16th. The meet also held special significance for the program in that it was their first ever senior meet. Women’s team captain Jennell Higgs is the first swimmer to complete four years of the program in the program’s five-year history.
Higgs has been a huge part of building the program and has consistently placed well at seasonal meets and at the RMAC championship meets over the last 3 seasons. In addition to her accomplishments in the pool, Higgs has also been a two time Academic All-American and is well on her way to adding a third one to her accomplishments this season.
While honoring the team senior the grizzlies also decided to have the meet theme be breast cancer awareness in honor of sophomore Tara Gerbert’s mother. As a surprise for Gerbert members of the team worked some magic to fly her mother from Phoenix, AZ to Alamosa.
In the pool the grizzlies took on the Colorado College Tigers out of Colorado Springs. Last season the women’s team suffered a defeat to the tigers by only a few points and this year were determined to get the win. And win they did, with a final score of 141-93 the women’s left no questions as to who came to win.
Continuing the season’s trend of record breaking, the women’s team took out another three pool records; freshman Brianna Trujillo broke the 100-yard freestyle record, sophomore Aspen Hahn reclaimed her 200-yard breaststroke record and the 200-yard freestyle relay team of McKenzie Barber, Elena Burr, Melissa Lopez and Trujillo.  Senior Higgs missed breaking the 200-yard butterfly record by mere tenths of a second in a time trial at the end of the meet.
On the men’s side they were defeated by the tiger’s with a score of 141-49. On the up side they did set a new pool record in the 200-yard medley relay.
Up next for both teams is the Colorado Mesa University Invite in Grand Junction.