Colorado State vs Colorado Mesa (Women)
- November 2, 2024
- Fort Collins, Colo.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Mike Brohard/CSU Athletics
FORT COLLINS – Emotions can be a fickle companion for an athlete.
They need to be dealt with, whatever they are, and if possible, find a way to fuel the fire. Heading into Saturday’s dual at Moby Pool with Colorado Mesa, Rylee O’Neil and Skyler Lyon were both feeling the frustration of underperforming. While Lyon decided back off with the internal punishment she was dishing out, O’Neil tapped into a different emotion altogether.
Feeling the need to prove a point.
“I’m always inspired, but specifically my little sister inspired me today,” O’Neil said. “She was supposed to be at this meet with us. Unfortunately, she wasn’t selected for the travel roster, and this was supposed to be our last meet against each other. I took it very personal, and I was swimming for her today.”
Her younger sister, Sydnee, is a sophomore on the CMU roster, and the two were looking forward to the matchup for obvious reasons. So, Rylee took it out on her sister’s team, winning both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly with season-best times as the Rams rolled past the top-ranked dual team in Division II, 177-123, on a day when four Moby Pool records were broken.
The Rams won 11 of the 14 events competed (both diving events were held Friday at Denver), getting wins from the normal culprits and a host of squad members who were looking for a boost. O’Neil was one of them, but coach Christopher Woodard isn’t going to start finding ways to send an upset O’Neil into the pool.
“I’m a firm believer you can only go to that well so many times and swim agitated. It’s not a long-term recipe for success, but occasionally you can see it with some athletes,” he said. “Whether it’s a slight, or you don’t feel represented well or it’s a nemesis you want to beat, I think all of those things came into play for Rylee today. A huge shot in the arm for her and a shot in the arm for us.”
What Woodard felt his team had lacked in the first two duals of the season, both losses, was a fire from the depth of the lineup. Some of the pick-me-up could be traced to the fact both teams wore tech suits, an uncommon sight for an early season dual, but a move first made by the Mavericks. Only Lexie Trietley decided against the move.
Lyon was a big part of the surge herself, winning the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, which has been a problematic event for the team early. Not only did she post wins, she led a 1-2-3 finish in the 100, a 1-2 punch in the 200.
For the transfer, it wasn’t just the wins, it was the times. They still aren’t where she has been, but they’re more in the neighborhood of what she’s posted. Being a transfer was part of the problem.
“It’s more frustration with myself. I just feel like finally I’m showing people who I really am, because my races haven’t reflected it so far,” said Lyon, a fifth-year who joined the team from Utah Tech. “I for sure put pressure on myself. Being a fifth-year, I want to come in and be the experienced one and come in and make it known, ‘hey, I’m here for a reason.’ It’s hard that I wasn’t doing that for the first two weeks. I feel like I’m getting there.”
The day started with CSU winning the 200 medley relay, the quad of Tess Whineray, Katie Flynn, Erin Dawson and Trietley breaking their pool record at 1:42.48. Two events later, Dawson posted a pool-record time of 1:51.11 in the 200 free, and in the 50 free, Trietley matched her 50 free record of 23.31.
But the day wasn’t without surprises, either. Whineray broke her 100 backstroke pool record she set earlier this season, yet took second place as Agata Naskret was a bit quicker at 53.46. Fueled by that, Whineray broke the 200 back pool record with a 1:58.32.
The Rams won the three events which were altered a bit – a product of two meets in two days after two weeks of heavy training. Dawon won the 400 free coming from behind, Maya White did the same in the 800 free and Maisy Barbosa paced the field in the 100 individual medley.
The day was still carried by those who felt inspired for a myriad of reasons. Ashlynn Hembree raced well to pick up some confidence while Azalea Shepherd and Barbosa continued to build on what they’d gained earlier. It all helps.
If channeled properly, Woodard added.
“I think sometimes that anger comes from their frustration they’re not performing to their level or contributing to the team like they would, so it’s really just trying to break through the ‘yeah, I can still do this,’ no matter what time of the year, no matter the situation, no matter how old you are. Both Rylee and Skyler, those are two athletes who are very capable, and they needed a boost. They gave it to themselves and the rest of us.”
Lyon’s frustration was bolstered a bit by confusion. She has been practicing really well, but meet days were not following through. , She was the definition of outside smoke in winning the 100 from the first lane. She looked at the board and her face lit up with the result, the 1:03.80, a far cry ahead of her times as a Ram.
The smile on her face revealed a myriad of feelings.
“It was mainly relief. And some hope,” she said. “I was, ‘I’m back.’ I’ve got some gas left in the tank, so I was excited. I then had the confidence for the 200 for sure. The best part was I shifted my mindset. Even though I’m still not at the times I feel I should be at right now, but each meet I have done a little bit better. So today, I told myself I’m going to be a little bit better than I was yesterday.”
The trick is to carry those gains forward without letting the occasional setbacks which occur in the sport to derail the journey. O’Neil knows all about what Lyon was feeling, having been a transfer trying to impress a year earlier, while also figuring out her own layers of being confident.
One of the people O’Neil’s been trying to prove wrong this year is herself. Her season hasn’t lived up to her expectations, and while she has a history of performing well on the big stage, as she did at last year’s conference meet, she’s wondered why her in-season results have been lacking.
“It’s hard. At the end of the day, it’s between you, the pool and the clock. No one else can swim well for you,” she said. “When I get to conference, trust me, it’s fun to win and I plan to come home with some hardware, but I want to make myself proud. After a 17-year long career, I want to end on a high note for myself, and not only make myself proud, but my team. Being a transfer, I want them to know they made the right choice by me being here.
“I think it’s more of a mental game, and finding that fuel, it’s always there. It’s trying to prove myself over and over again. I think this will give me confidence moving forward. Midseason should be fun. Next week should be fun. I’ve been working with Ross (Barr, CSU’s director of student-athlete mental health and performance) and we’ve talked about the different areas of confidence, and I can’t just get confidence from past meets. That’s only one aspect. I have to have social confidence, which I don’t think I had last year because I was new. My wins today were not mine; they were team wins. It was amazing. I got like 20 hugs.”
And through her performance, sent a long-distance one to her little sister.
“It was fun,” she said. “I think team O’Neil won today.”
Courtesy: CMU Athletics
FORT COLLINS, Colo.— Agata Naskret set a pool record in the 100-yard backstroke as she and Ada Qunell won individual events while book-ending the Mavs’ winning 200 Free Relay team, highlights of Colorado Mesa University’s Saturday afternoon women’s swimming dual against NCAA Division I Colorado State University here in the Rams’ Moby Pool.
The Rams won the dual, 177-123, taking wins in 12 of the 16 overall events, including 11 swimming events on Saturday.
CMU claimed four wins, including a Friday afternoon 1-meter diving win from Jenna Hurley, which helped the Mavs take a 23-15 lead into Saturday’s swimming events. The Mavs also had seven NCAA Championship qualifying and the same number of second place times on Saturday.
Naskret led the Mavs with two wins, including the meet-capping relay. She also had two second place finishes, but touched first in the 100 Back with a NCAA Division II Championship automatic qualifying time of 53.46 seconds (53.36-altitude adjusted), out-touching CSU’s Tess Whineray, who had been the Rams’ top performer this season, by a tenth of a second. Whineray also went under the former pool record.
Naskret now leads Division II by nearly a full second after winning the event at last year’s national championships. The Polish junior also had a season-best and NCAA “B” cut time of 2:00.44 (1:59.24-converted) in the 200 Back, good for second place behind Whineray, who set a pool record time of 1:58.32 to claim the win. CMU’s Katerina Matoskova took third in the event, touching in 2:03.71 (2:02.51-converted), good for yet another NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
Meanwhile, Qunell took the 100 Free in an NCAA Championship provisional qualifying time of 51.14 seconds before anchoring the 200 Free Relay team to a winning time of 1:34.03. Elli Williams and Kiara Borchardt swam the middle legs on that relay.
Naskret and Qunell also book-ended the Mavs’ second place 200 Medley Relay team that finished in 1:43.58. Maddi Moran and Borchardt were also part of that team.
The Mavs also fared well in the 800 Free, the first individual event of the dual and one that is not normally contested at the collegiate level. Olivia Hansson led a 2-3-4 CMU finish in 8:14.14 while Sophia Bains (8:28.26) and Haven Hinkle (8:31.18) were the next to touch.
Freshman Kendyll Wilkinson, Matoskova and Qunell then all turned in NCAA “B” cut efforts in the 200 Free as Wilkinson took second in 1:52.20 (1:51.00-converted) while Matoskova was right behind in 1:52.62 (1:51.42-converted) to join Wilkinson in the top 10 of the national rankings. Qunell is just outside that top 10 after finishing in 1:53.08 (1:51.88-converted), good for fourth place in a fast race.
Hansson also had a second place finish in the 400 Free, finishing in 3:55.26, just 0.07 seconds behind CSU’s Erin Dawson. Borchardt also took second in the 100 Fly with a time of 56.91 seconds before Tori Bartusiak finished the 100 IM in 58.89 seconds to garner second place in that discipline.
Bartusiak also had a third place finish in the 200 Fly with a personal-best time of 2:06.53 (2:05.43-converted) to move into the No. 10 spot of program history.
Williams (23.97) and Antonia Leese (2:23.75) also garnered third place finishes in the 50 Free and 200 Breaststroke, respectively.
CMU’s men also competed on Saturday, dropping a tight 157-143 dual at Division I Denver.
The Maverick squads will rejoin forces and resume their season in just under three weeks when they will host their annual TYR/CMU Invitational from Nov. 20-23.
