Women's Swimming | 1/26/2022 2:39:00 PM

After more than two months since its last competitive meet, the Dixie State will host Western Athletic Conference foe Idaho in a dual meet this Saturday morning at the DSU HPC Building Pool. The first event will start at 11 a.m.

The Trailblazers, who last competed as hosts of the DSU Invitational back in November (Nov. 18-20), were scheduled to open the new year at the Air Force Academy (Jan. 7-8) and host Northern Arizona in a dual meet (Jan. 15), however those meets were canceled due to COVID-19 concerns within those programs.
 
DSU COACHING STAFF: Dan Kesler is his first season as head coach of the Dixie State women's swimming program. Coach Kesler comes to St. George after two years as associate head men's and women's swimming coach at Florida State. While at FSU, he worked with the middle distance and stroke groups, and helped lead both Seminole programs to fifth-place finishes at the ACC Championships last spring.
            Prior to his time in Tallahassee, he had a seven-year stint as an assistant coach at Arizona State (2012-19), where he worked with the distance and middle distance groups while serving as the recruiting coordinator. Kesler spent his final four years working under FSU alum Bob Bowman – who is best known for coaching the most decorated Olympian of all-time, Michael Phelps.
            Kesler began his collegiate coaching career at Division II Wingate University, at which he served five years as the top assistant men's and women's swimming coach overseeing the mid-distance and distance swimmers. Kesler also served on the NCAA D-II top-25 poll selection committee for the 2011-2012 season. While at Wingate, he helped lead the men's team to five-straight Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship titles, and to several top-six finishes at the NCAA Division II national championship meets.
Following a stellar high school career, Kesler swam collegiately at North Carolina State from 2000-03, where he served as team captain as a junior and was an ACC finalist in the distance events.
A native of Westminster, Md., Kesler was also a 2000 Olympic Trials qualifier while representing Green Terror (MD) Aquatic Club.

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State combined for six school records and clocked several top-10 program marks over three days as host of the DSU Trailblazer Invitational this past Nov. 18-20, at the DSU HPC Pool.   
In day two of competition, sophomore Akalia Bostock went for the "daily double" by breaking, then re-breaking, the school's 400-yard IM record. Bostock clocked the second-fastest heat time of the event with a school record 4:25.57, then went on to podium in the race final with a third-place event time of 4:25.10, which bested her record time from earlier in the day by .47 seconds.
Meanwhile, freshman Ally Boynton answered her teammate's double-up with one of her own as she posted two record-breaking times in the 100 back. Boynton set a new DSU record with a preliminary time of 56.57, then went on to better that mark by over .60 of a second with a "B" final winning time of 55.94.
On the final day of the meet, freshman Paulina Sansores shattered her own school record in the 1650-yard freestyle by more than 18 seconds when she touched the wall in fourth-place overall with a time of 17:14.66. Boynton followed suit in the next event with her second school record swim in as many nights as she won the "C" final of the 200 backstroke with a 2:02.98. In fact, DSU went 1-2 in that race as Bostock posted the second-fastest 200 back time in school history with a runner-up 2:03.78.
 
TRAILBLAZERS IN THE WAC: Dixie State owns several top-15 WAC marks heading into the final two meets of the regular season.
1,000 Free
7. Paulina Sansores – 10:30.07 (altitude at Colorado Mesa, 10/1/21)
 
1,650 Free
7. Paulina Sansores – 17:14.66 (at DSU, 11/20/21)
 
100 Back
8. Ally Boyton – 55.94 (at DSU, 11/19/21)
 
200 Back
9. Ally Boyton – 2:02.98 (at DSU, 11/20/21)
14. Akalia Bostock – 2:03.78 (at DSU, 11/20/21)
 
100 Breast
5. Skyler Lyon – 1:03.75 (at DSU, 11/19/21)
 
200 Breast
8. Skyler Lyon – 2:20.82 (at DSU, 11/20/21)
 
400 IM
4. Akalia Bostock – 4:25.10 (at DSU, 11/19/21)
9. Paulina Sansores – 4:28.46 (at DSU, 11/19/21)
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State will close out the 2021-22 regular season on Saturday, Feb. 12, when the Blazers travel to Las Vegas to swim at the UNLV First Chance Invite.