SIOUX FALLS – Two weeks after earning the first dual win in program history, University of Sioux Falls Swimming returns to action in duals against two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents. The Cougars travel to Aberdeen, S.D. for a dual at Northern State on Thursday, Nov. 3, beginning at 5:30 p.m. USF continues their road trip on Saturday, Nov. 5, taking on University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. at 11 a.m.
 
Watch USF-Northern State dual live
Thursday's dual at Northern State will be streamed live through Stretch Internet and can be viewed at USFCougars.com/watch
 
Keeping up with the Cougars
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Last time out
In the first regular-season competition of their inaugural season, USF Swimming split a double dual, recording the first win in program history. The Cougars topped Quincy (Ill.) 163-73 and suffered a 146-86 loss to NCAA Division I member Northern Iowa. In direct competition with Quincy, the Cougars swept all 14 events.
 
The Cougars won two events overall, defeating swimmers from both UNI and Quincy in the double-dual meet. Allison Eppinga won the 200 backstroke and was second in the 100 back. She swam the anchor leg on the Cougars' winning 200 free relay in addition to the backstroke leg on USF's third-place 200 medley relay.  Ingelin Lima swam legs on both of USF's relays while placing second in the 50 and 100 freestyle races.
 
Eppinga named NSIC swimmer of the week by College Swimming News
With her impressive performance at USF's first meet, freshman Allison Eppinga was named the NSIC swimmer of the week by CollegeSwimming.com. A native of Saline, Mich., Eppinga won the 200 back and swam the anchor leg on USF's winning 200 free relay. She also finished second in the 100 back and swam the backstroke leg of USF's third-place 200 medley relay. Eppinga ranks in the top 100 of NCAA Division II in three different events: 23rd in the 100 backstroke (58.69 seconds), 41st in the 200 back (2:09.88), and 73rd in the 200 free (1:58.02).
 
How the Cougars stack up in the NSIC
Through three weeks of the regular season, USF has five swimmers who have combined for 11 top-10 times among NSIC swimmers this season. Allison Eppinga and Miake Doerr both have three and Ingelin Lima has two fourth-ranked times. Appinga's 200 back time ranks third in the league while her 100 back and 200 freestyle times are fourth and sixth, respectively. Doerr has the fourth-fastest 200 butterfly time along with the eighth-ranked 500 free and ninth-ranked 200 free times. In the freestyle sprints, Lima owns the No. 4 time in the 50 free and 100 free. Mackenzie Crane own the top spot in the 1,000 freestyle while also ranking tenth in the 500 free. Michelle Hoffin's 200 individual medley time is currently sixth-ranked in the NSIC this season.
 
USF picked fifth overall in NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll
Entering their inaugural season, University of Sioux Falls was picked to finish fifth by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference coaches. USF collected 16 points in the polls, placing them just three behind third-place Northern State. St. Cloud State was picked the unanimous favorite with six first-place votes and Minnesota State received the final first-place, placing them second overall.
 
Of the three first-year programs, Sioux Falls was picked to finish highest in fifth. Augustana was sixth with 12 points and University of Mary collected eight points to come in seventh in the poll.
 
Crane tabbed as athlete to watch by NSIC
Along with USF's fifth-place billing in the NSIC preseason release, freshman Mackenzie Crane was named one of the athletes to watch this season. A native of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Crane qualified and competed in the 2016 Olympic Trials for her native Canada this past summer.
 
Crane owns times that would convert to top-16 finishes at the previous NCAA Championships. Her converted 10:06.51 in the 1,000-yard freestyle would have been a top-eight time at the NCAA Championships and her converted 1650 free (17:10.02) and 500 free (5:57.52) would have scored as top-16 times at last year's national meet.
 
Leader of the pack
Jon Maccoll is in his first season as the head coach of the USF Swimming program. On August 31, 2015, Maccoll was named the first head coach in program history. Previously, Maccoll held assistant positions at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Queens University (N.C.), where he helped mold programs to compete at the national scale.
 
At UNLV, Maccoll helped the Rebel men's swim team to a 27th-place finish in his final season, the highest of any non-power 5 conference program. After assisting in the start of the Queens men's and women's swimming programs, Maccoll set them up for unparalleled success once he left for UNLV. Queens has captured the last two women's team national titles and a runner-up finish in 2014.