Bear of the Week

Junior JJ Smith

Congrats to JJ Smith for being named this week's Bear of the Week for her contributions in both individual events and on the relays in the Bears' wins.  JJ currently holds the Bears' Top Times in the 50 Free (24.55), and 100 Free (54.40).

Way to go JJ!!!

Bears win CSU Invite

Another great weekend for the Bears as they brought home another win from the CSU Invite!  The 200 Free Relay conisisting of Kira Alger, Gina Riggle, Sammy Leonard and JJ Smith posted a Top Ten time of 1:39.41.  Tori and Courtney continue to dominate the 400 IM with a 1-2 finish while Sammy Leonard posted a 1:01.36 in the 100 Backstroke.  Way to go Bears!!!!

Official Release

Senior Tori Gutt

A Day in the Life

This week's A Day in the Life is from Senior Co-Captain Kelly Schmeckpeper-Cook.  Kelly is a diver from Denver, Colorado majoring in Journalism and Mass Communications.  Most recently Kelly set a new school record on the 1Meter board against New Mexico on November 4th and also qualifying for NCAA Zones in March. 

A Day in the Life of Kelly Schmeckpeper-Cook

Finally after three years of feeling like a chicken with my head cut off I think I’ve finally have being a student-athlete down.  I’ve learned many lessons for both everyday life and at practice.  I’ll start with my everyday life lessons.

Lesson #1: On mornings with weights, it is very beneficial to sleep in the clothes you wish to wear to weights.  Then you can just roll out of bed throw on some shoes, brush your teeth and head to weights saving you a crucial fifteen minutes of ready time so you can sleep!  On the mornings with water practice- pack your outfit for the day and all school things the night before! This will let you sleep for about 20-30 minutes longer depending on how slow you are in the mornings.  Over the years I have learned that sleep is one of the most important things to succeed in school and sports so every second counts!  After getting a good workout in the weight room I head home to nap before my 9 am class, which brings me to Lesson #2: When napping after a work out SET MULTIPLE ALARMS! Because if you’re anything like me after workout naps are virtually impossible to wake-up from.  Then it’s off to class.  The greatest thing I've learned about doing well in your classes is sit in the front! I have a tendency to get distracted pretty easily but sitting in the front virtually eliminates any chances to be distracted. You have the professor staring at you the whole lecture, making it easy to stay on task.  After my 9 am class I usually head straight to study hall which brings me to Lesson #3: Get your study hall done as early as possible!!! There is nothing worse than realizing Thursday morning that you still have 5 hours left.  Breaking study hall up into small increments of 2hours each day makes staying on task much easier and then you aren't overwhelmed on Thursday with multiple hours to complete. Next I go to my Advertising Principles class and then one more hour of study hall before 3:00 practice.

Number one lesson of practice: Leave outside issues at the door! Practice is great not only because you’re getting better at your sport but it's an awesome stress release and gives you a two hour escape from the rest of the world.  Practice Lesson #2: Always go hard for everything! As a diver who is afraid of heights and many more things it is very easy for me to "wimp out" when learning a new dive... Result of wimping out: SMACK!!!  Going hard for every dive every time not only makes you a better diver but it saves your body from smacking! Practice #3: Have fun with practice and try not to get frustrated.  Easier said than done right? Well making a conscience effort to do these things will make practice more enjoyable for you as well as the people  around you.  After practice I head home for some dinner which usually consists of pasta and chicken.  I get the rest of my school work done and try to get to bed as early as possible.  Like I said every second counts when it comes to sleep!

    I have had an awesome 3.5 years on this team and have made awesome friendships with all of my teammates.  And while I’m ready to graduate and finish my career as a diver the bonds made with these girls and coaches will make that end very bittersweet!  

Welcome Aboard!!

The AquaBears have added three great swimmers to the 2011-2012 team!  Gina Cernohous(Witchita, KS), Emily Foster(Santa Barbara, CA) and Jasmine Fryrear(San Diego, CA) have committed to the University of Northern Colorado Swimming and Diving team!

The coaching staff and team are very excited about adding these three young ladies.  Congrats!

2010-2011 AquaBears at Pumpkin Patch in Ault, CO

Check out the Official Release on UNCBears.com

MPSF Swimmer of the Week!

Freshman Courtney Van Oost

A congratulations goes out to Freshman Courtney Van Oost for being named MPSF Swimmer of the Week!  Courtney posted a Top Ten time in the 200 Back with a 2:06.42, a 4:36.92 in the 400 IM and a 54.10 in the 400 Free Relay to help the Bears beat South Dakota St. and Northern Iowa this past weekend.

This is the second time this season Courtney has received the honor, her first recognition coming after her performances in Grand Junction, CO against Mesa St. and Adams St.  Way to go Courtney!

Check out the Official Release from UNCBears.com

Bear of the Week

Freshman Renee Stevens

This week's Bear of the Week was awarded to Renee Stevens for her continued improvement in the breastroke events. From Loveland, Colorado, Renee graduated from Loveland High School and is majoring in Nursing.  Renee has steadily climbed the depth charts for the Bears in the breaststroke events by consistently dropping time and representing NC on the medley relays.

Congrats Renee!

NC Bears Bring Home Four Wins

The AquaBears had a great weekend in Cedar Falls, IA bringing home a total of 4 wins against both Northern Iowa and South Dakota State. Seniors Kelly Schmeckpeper-Cook and Tori Gutt continue to lead the team in their events, while JJ Smith leads the sprinters and Courtney Van Oost continues to post Top Ten times in the 400 IM and 200 Back.  All of the AquaBears had a great weekend with fast swimming and great times.

Check out the Official Release from UNCBears.com.

Bear of the Week

Sophomore Alicen Fair

Congrats to Alicen Fair for earning this week's Bear of the Week!

Alicen is a Sophomore middle distance freestyler from Aurora, Colorado, majoring in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Visual Arts, has demonstrated leadership skills both in and out of the pool especially with recruiting weekends helping to make the AquaBears even faster!

Way to go Alicen!

Bears Battle New Mexico



Senior NCAA Zones Qualifer
Kelly Schmeckpepper-Cook

 Northern Colorado AquaBears showed a lot of promise for the upcoming years in their meet against the New Mexico Lobos on Thursday evening by closing the gap between the two teams, a new diving record and NCAA Zones Cut by Kelly Schmeckpepper-Cook, going 1st-2nd in the 400 IM ending it all with a win in the last relay, 400 Free Relay.

It was a very good meet top to bottom.  Check out the Official Release on UNCBears.com

A Day in the Life

This week's "A Day in the Life of an AquaBear" comes from senior Alisha Dauman.  Alisha competes in the butterfly and IM events for the Bears, she is majoring in Sport and Excercise Science, she swims along her twin sister, Alana who's day was featured a couple weeks ago.


Senior Alisha Dauman

Alisha is from Thornton, CO and here is A Day in Her Life.....

I wake up at 5:30am on a cold Wednesday morning to go lift weights, something that has become a ritual of mine for the last 3 years since I have competed at the college level.  An hour goes by and I’m on my way home to crawl up into bed take a short nap before class.  Most days I enjoy this nap; however there have been some weeks where I am obligated to study so that I can get the grades that I want. Around 9 o’clock, I go to the first of three classes on my schedule, Nutrition Assessment/Intervention of Nutrition, today I had the privilege to listen to a guest speaker talk about Cystic Fibrosis.  She has been living with CF her whole life and came to talk to us about what life is like for her day to day.  This fascinates me because I think my life is hard until I listen to what other people go through and then I actually think mine is pretty great.  I went to my next class which is Business Management, where we learned about how important it is to be organized whether working for a business or owning a business.  Food Science is next on my schedule, which is my favorite class because it strikes a particular interest of mine, baking.  I love to bake even though it is not something that I am able to do on a daily basis. In this class we learn about different type of foods and what can happen to it when it is baked different ways.  For example, we learned about what happens when you make a cake with Splenda instead of sugar, or honey instead of sugar and etc.  These are the things we test and bake ourselves so that we know firsthand what can happen.

Three o’clock rolls around and its practice time.  I swim butterfly and individual medley, so most practices are geared towards these events.  After practice, I eat dinner and head off to study hall.  I normally have schoolwork to do, especially since I’m a senior and am going to be graduating in May.  Swimming has been my life ever since I can remember and honestly I am a little sad to see it all be over with.  I am soaking up every last minute of the pool as I can before I take the next stroke in my life.

Flower Power!

Happy Birthday to Hattie Oats and Hannah Hurd!  It was a great day for the Flower Cap as it was used TWICE in one day!


Hannah Hurd



Hattie Oats



 Watch some of their warm-up with the Flower Cap! Hannah is swimming and Hattie is kicking.

Bear of the Week!



Sophomore Distance Swimmer
Tatum Boehnke

Congrats to Tatum Boehnke for earning this week's "Bear of the Week."  Tatum is a Sophomore majoring in Excercise Science who is from Carson City, Nevada.  Tatum swims the Distance Freestyle events for the AquaBears and has also swam the English Channel and Lake Tahoe.

Way to go Tatum!

Northern Vision's Article on Tatum's Open Water Swims