UAF swim team hosts last home meet of season
Story and photos by Teegan Silva
The Alaska Nanooks competed at home for the last time this season, hosting Westmont College on Friday and Saturday, January 16 and 17, for a two day heated rivalry. The Nanooks secured a 100-86 victory over the Westmont Warriors on Friday, but fell short 91-95 in a close battle on Saturday.
Freshman Guielsie Borbon competes for Alaska in the 500-yard freestyle.
On day one, the Nanooks finished one-two in the 100-yard butterfly, with freshman Giorgia Merlo winning in a time of 1:00.57, followed closely by teammate Cosima Schmiedel in second with a 1:01.29. Schmiedel, a sophomore, also won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:10.25. Alaska took first in both relays, the 400-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle.
Junior Dorka Dancsok won the 200-yard individual medley (IM) in 2:11.59, and was a member of both winning relay teams. Dancsok is having a historic season for the Nanooks, setting a new program record of 4:24.90 in the 400-yard IM at the UNLV Invite in December and claiming PCSC Swimmer of the Week earlier this year.
“I’m very happy that I got the [school] record in Vegas; I’ve been working towards that since Freshman year,” Dancsok says. Looking ahead to their conference meet in February, her “goal is to get more team records and to better this one.” Dancsok is currently ranked 12th and 19th nationally in the 400-yard and 200-yard IM across NCAA Division II.
Fairbanks native Sariah Rogers, a sophomore, breaks the water for a breath during the 200-yard breaststroke.
Ali Pecore was named Friday’s Swimmer of the Meet, with wins in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle in 24.58 and 54.23, respectively. Pecore also anchored for both winning relays, pulling off an amazing come-from-behind win in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Pecore was honored on Saturday as one of three graduating seniors for the Nanooks, along with graduate student transfer McKenzie Fazio and four-year Nanook Kaidence Sampsel. Like Pecore, Fazio contributed to both winning relays on Friday. Sampsel, who is a team captain, says that “the team has been through a lot of challenges but we always persevere and push through, and we work hard.”
Saturday brought wins in several events for UAF, despite losing to Westmont overall on the day. Pecore picked up more wins in both the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.92 and the 100-yard freestyle in 54.40. She anchored yet another impressive comeback win for the Nanooks in the last leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay. UAF went undefeated in relays against Westmont this weekend, as Fazio, Dancsok, Merlo, and freshman Mariia Sirotinskaia also defeated the Warriors in the 200-yard medley relay. Dancsok followed closely behind Pecore in the 100-yard freestyle, taking second place with a time of 55.67, while also dominating the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:27.91, good for first place. Freshman Macy Ahrens took second in 2:33.83 and Schmeidel added another win to her weekend by taking first in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:49.97.
Swimmers Dorka Dancsok, Mariia Sirotinskaia, and MacKenzie O’Keefe are pictured taking off, starting the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Nanooks’ had three relay teams in this event on Saturday.
MacKenzie O’Keefe was proud of how her team competed this weekend. “This meet went great for us. We were outnumbered [by Westmont] since we had a lot of injuries, but our team stepped up and did really well,” says the freshman. Sophomore Charisma Watkins added that the Nanooks “had a lot of seniors leave last year and we have 8 new people, so the dynamic is
different but I think it's going great. I’m excited for conference and I think we’re all going to do really well.”
Next up the Nanooks will travel to Monterey Park, CA for the Pacific Coast Swimming and Diving Conference Championships from February 11-14. Dancsok, Schmeidel, Fazio, and freshman Kitti Marton are likely to be competitive as they are all ranked in the PCSC across multiple events. UAF looks to advance athletes to the NCAA DII Swimming and Diving Championships in March, a feat that was last done in 2024 by alumni Charlotte Fletcher-Stables in the 100-yard backstroke.