Colorado State vs Idaho (W)
- Friday, October 22, 2021
- Greeley, Colo.
- Results
Courtesy: Colorado State Athletics
GREELEY, Colo. – Senior Day was not what it was planned out to be.
With a broken pump at Moby Pool, the dual Colorado State’s women’s swimming and diving team hosted against Idaho was a town away in Greeley. Fine.
There wasn’t time for the normal recognition of the seven Rams seniors, either. OK.
You make the best of things, a mantra the team has fully adopted. At the start of the day, head coach Christopher Woodard sent the team a message: Find a way or make a way. If you can’t find a way, make one yourself.
The Rams showed again they are pretty much unfazed about anything in the 211-89 dual victory over the Vandals, pushing them to 11-0 this season. It made the bus ride to Fort Collins from a “home” meet extra special. Nothing was going to ruin Senior Day, nor the team’s perfect mark in duals.
“I don’t care if it’s at Moby Pool or the middle of nowhere, if I have my team that’s all that matters,” senior Abbey Owenby said. “I think it was a great senior day. You know what? Even though this is what we’re dealing with right now, I still think today, it was an opportunity, and that’s what Woody tells us every day. We have an opportunity, and I’m just grateful because this group of girls is amazing, and they make me want to swim fast and be happy, and I’ve been so grateful for the last four years.”
Colorado State won every race competed (one was unofficial) and the two diving competitions. With a large lead at the first break, Woodard starting pulling some girls from relay teams and marking some swims as exhibition to try to keep the margin of victory respectful to the guests.
Yes, he was impressed with the way his team shook off the alterations to training (they are utilizing two different sites on campus, one of which is a 30-meter facility), and when they can practice. He was very impressed with the way they continued to attack races, especially considering where they are in training.
“They’re at a heavy point in their lifting phase, too, and sometimes not having the volume in the workouts to not flush that out of their system … You can see they’re sore. You can see their strokes change,” Woodard said. “Knowing they’re maybe not in peak condition but still trying to execute their race plans, that’s impressive.”
Race after race, especially those in the 200s, a Ram exited the pool and muttered, “that hurt.” The thing is, they know where they are in their training, and they know before they get into the blocks, the pain is going to come one way or the other. They went after races figuring if they were going to feel it in their muscles, they might as well feel good about it mentally.
Anika Johnson picked up a pair of wins, taking the 200-yard freestyle, then clipping teammate Kristina Friedrichs at the wall for a win in the 100 free.
“I like to tell myself before all my races, you know it’s going to hurt, but you’re going to be OK,” Johnson said.
What they didn’t know what how they’d truly react in a competitive setting to all that has gone on this week. Johnson said for all of them, it’s been a long week. It’s been a hard week, and they all took the time to feel bad for themselves about the adjustments.
Then they went back to work.
“I feel it’s been very inspiring and motivating to see that after all that we can still come back and throw down,” she said. “We were allowed to have our little pity party, but after that, we had to put our heads down and deal with it, and it was fine. We were able to still get through it, and we’re still getting through it.”
She was one of four double-winners in the meet for the Rams, as Liza Lunina brought home both the 100 and 200 backstrokes, and diver Lindsay Gizzi swept the boards with personal-bests on both, hitting a 311.93 on the 3-meter and coming back with a 293.72 on the 1-meter. Both of those scores were personal records, and more impressively, vaulted the freshman into the program’s top five all-time. Her 3-meter score ranks third; her 1-meter score ranks fourth.
The other Ram to double up was Friedrichs, won paced the field in the 50 free and 100 butterfly. The rest of the wins were spread out, but two were heartwarming as they came from seniors Owenby (1,000 free) and Kate Meunier (200 breaststroke).
Owenby split races with freshman Maya White, who took the 500 free, and the youngster’s addition to the team has brought out the best in Owenby, an all-Mountain West performer. Beating her early wasn’t about showing the freshman who is boss, but more of a tip to the cap for the way White has made Owenby train.
“No, no, no. Gosh, no,” Owenby said with a laugh. “She pushes me every day. I’m so grateful to have somebody who pushes me each and every day. I think that again shows how positive our team is.”
The Rams won both the 200 medley and 400 free relay to bookmark the 16-event meet, while Katie McClelland (100 breast), Hannah Sykes (200 butterfly) and Maisy Barbosa (200 IM, exhibition) all won races.
They went through a lot together this week, and none of it seemed to be ideal at the time. Honestly, none of it still is, but excuses were brushed aside and solutions were found. Woodard loved to see it, because while the pandemic still exists, restrictions have been eased up, and he wondered if old habits and ways would creep back into play.
Not even close. Owenby says they won’t allow each other to go back, no matter what the day may bring.
“I can’t even explain how strong this team has been,” Owenby said. “This week has not only been difficult for everybody’s mental health and physical health, but personally, for me, I couldn’t have gotten through this week without my teammates. That’s what made this meet even more fun, because it showed just how strong this team is.”
Courtesy: Idaho Athletics
MOSCOW, Idaho – The Idaho swimming and diving team dropped both of its meets in its first full-team road trip of the young 2021-22 season. On Friday, the Vandals fell 89-211 to an undefeated Colorado State club in their final tune-up before the start of WAC competition. The next day, in their first official WAC meet of the season, Idaho lost 91-207 to a strong Northern Colorado team, whose only blemish so far this season was a close 195.5-213 loss to Colorado State at the Intermountain Shootout earlier this month.
Friday, October 22 vs Colorado State
Friday’s dual with Colorado State was originally scheduled at CSU’s Moby Pool in Fort Collins, but a broken pool pump forced the competition to Greeley, CO. Unfortunately, the move away from CSU’s home pool didn’t seem to phase the Rams, as they started the meet going 1-2 in the 200-yd Medley Relay, and never looked back. The Rams found a way to win every race throughout the meet.
Kaling Phung and Morgan Votava, both juniors, finished second and third in the 100-yd Backstroke, scoring seven points in the event for the Vandals, with respective times of 59.21 and 1:00.67.
Freshman diver Heather Hopkins took second in three-meter diving with a score of 285.23, tallying four points for the Vandals. Juniors Hailey Faith and Allison Shimp tied for fifth-place, each posting scores of 252.75 to earn one point for Idaho.
Other bright spots in the dual included junior Haylee Buyers taking third in the 200-yd Backstroke with a time of 2:10:06, and freshman Laura Rodriguez-Fernandez posted a 2:27.01 time in the 200-yd Breaststroke, good for second place and scoring four points for the Vandals.
