Colorado State vs Colorado School of Mines (Women)
- January 25, 2025
- Fort Collins, Colo.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Colorado State Athletics
FORT COLLINS – For every senior, what comes next is the unknown.
The job market. Possibly an advanced degree. Maybe a new location. Definitely adulting.
For most swimmers, a season can get a bit repetitive. New dual, same events. Over and over. In that regard, Saturday’s matchup between Colorado State’s women’s swimming team and the Colorado School of Mines came with a twist. The coaches brought the unknown into the mix, though the performance by the Rams came as expected in the form of a 146-88 victory, the fifth consecutive dual won by the team this season, finishing at 6-3.
The four relays contested were not on the NCAA event card. While three of the individual events were set – the 50-, 100- and 500-yard freestyles were set – the remaining six events were all a mystery. Both staffs selected their swimmers for a race prior to the meet, then pulled events out of a hat at random. When the swimmers were behind the blocks, they had no idea what was coming next.
Naturally, there was a touch of anxiety for some. There is a reason breaststrokers are breaststrokers – fable has it they are born, not created. Take some swimmers out of the normal routine, and they can look oddly enough like a fish out of water. And the Rams did it on a day when they honored six seniors.
The initial news was met with a touch of curiosity, but at the end, the overwhelming theme was it was a fun way to head into the stressful part of the campaign – the Mountain West Championships.
This was part of the fun for the coaches, seeing how some reacted to a new venture, or attacked something familiar. For CSU coach Christopher Woodard, it was interesting to see the reactions at first, then to watch the swims. Skyler Lyon was one in the 200 butterfly, but so was backstroke specialist Tess Whineray taking on the 50 breaststroke.
“It was really enjoyable to see them twist in the wind a little bit. See the anxiety, then the excitement, then maybe the anxiety again,” Woodard said. “Honestly, I don’t think it was those moments. It was all of them touching the wall, every swimmer, seeing the interaction between the teams. That’s what you ultimately want to see, even in a heated battle, is to see the mutual respect and camaraderie and the shared experience.”
There was one event none of the swimmers wanted to hear called out – the 200 butterfly. All races should hurt at the end, but it’s the one which specifically does. Especially when the month of January is drawing to a close.
When it was called, White stood in the blocks in lane three, and all the senior captain could do was smile. It’s part of her normal meet routine, so it was a virtual cheat code for her – she ranks 10th in program history with her personal best time of 2:02.18. While it felt like the same old thing, it really wasn’t.
“I didn’t really want to hear it. I’m fine doing it. It’s better than the 1,000 free,” White said. “It was kind of funny that I had just done a 150 on the relay, but it was fun. Honestly, when I heard the event, my brain went, oh. We all figured we were gong to get a 200 fly or 200 breast. The breast would have been worse for me.
“The huge relief was I didn’t also do the 500 free. I actually did better with the fly today than (Friday). It really was a relief today.”
Two lanes down from her, the sentiment was entirely different.
Lyon would also smile, but for completely distinct reasons. In her life, the breaststroker had never competed in the race.
“I thought it was a joke. I thought I was going to get up there and the announcer was going to say it was actually a 100 fly,” she said. “That didn’t happen, so I thought, ‘well, I guess it’s the 200 fly, never done it before. I didn’t swim club. I haven’t done it in practice either.”
When she finished – to great applause from her teammates – she gave Woodard a glance, one which was open to interpretation.
Woodard could only applaud her effort considering the circumstances. She attacked something new with a blend of shock and glee and came out better for the experience. Besides, there is something about seeing athletes be uncomfortable and come back stronger.
“I do love watching Tess swim the breaststroke. I really, really do, because she swims it in such a unique style,” Woodard said. “I think you have to take your hat off to Sky. The 200 fly is one of the hardest events in the NCAA lineup, and with someone with no prep swim it, and to swim it with a smile on her face, is kind of cool.”
As it played out, Lyon took White’s role, swimming both the long fly as well as the 500 free – something she hasn’t done since her high school tryouts. Two hard races and she found a blessing.
She took the news of it all in stride, finding the fun, and the humorous, in her events. Was she proud of her swim? No. Was she thrilled she finished? Absolutely.
“I thought, try to make it look nice. I’ve been told my butterfly tends to look like an age grouper sometimes. I thought, just make it look smooth. That was my plan. It helps me feel more confident. Oh, I am good at breaststroke. I might not be good at the 200 fly, but I’m good at breaststroke.
“I’m happy I didn’t do breaststroke today. It was a good break. Everyone was happy with whatever they got.”
In the water, Colorado State won all but one of the 13 events competed, though officially, their final two events were posted as exhibition swims with the meet well in hand.
The Rams won all three relays – the first three only involving three swimmers – all of them a crescendo or decrescendo of various distances. While Lexie Trietley won her normal 50 free event, others took turns at something different. Erin Dawson picked up a win in the 100 backstroke, leading a 1-2-3 finish with Sophia Hemingway and Trietley. Maisy Barbosa led a 1-2 finish in the 100 butterfly with Mavi Nehir Isman and the 50 fly was additionally a 1-2 finish for the team, led by Rylee O’Neil with Katie Flynn to follow.
With each expected result from a normal performer – White in the 200 fly, Ashlyn Hembree in the 100 free and Dawon in the 200 individual medley – there were fun surprises around the corner – Mia Axelman in the 50 breaststroke.
With the expected stress of the championships around the corner, White felt the alterations made to her final meet at Moby Pool were just what she, and her team, needed.
“This was amazing. You’re scared, but you’re also excited,” White said. “I hope we start doing that more often. It’s still racing, but it’s a little break from the usual competition, especially with conference coming.
“We still get to race, but it’s not events we are stressing about. We just get to have fun and race. That doesn’t happen very often you get to race right before conference stress free.”
Courtesy: Mines Athletics
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Saturday marked the final dual of the 2024-25 season for the Colorado School of Mines Women’s Swimming team as the Orediggers faced off against Colorado State at Moby Pool.
The final score of the dual was 146-88 in favor of the Rams. However, with CSU Senior Day festivities and a relay-heavy, non-traditional slate of events, the end margin did not tell the whole story. Action started with a three-leg, individual-medley relay where each swimmer did their own 100-IM. Colorado State claimed the first two spots with Mines’ Jordan Tierney, Zooecia Phoebus, and Ava Burger teaming up for bronze with a time of 3:03.74. That event alone set the tone and provided the flavor for the rest of the meet.
Up next was the 500-free, marking one of a few traditional events on the slate. Julie Gill raced to gold for Mines thanks to a 5:18.18 pace. Twists and turns returned for the next three races which were all mystery events. The stroke and distance for each set was decided just before the gun with coaches drawing out of a hat. First came the 100-back which saw Kerrigan Hemp take fourth in 1:02.32. Next was the 100-fly where Savannah Karas hit the wall for bronze in 59.32. Rounding out the trio of mysteries was the 50-fly. Abby Swanson led the Orediggers in that race with a third-place finish in 27.53.
After the first break of the dual, tradition returned in the 50-free and Sophia Cristal placed third for Mines in 24.82. What followed the sprint was a crescendo medley relay. The event featured three legs with the first competitor swimming 50 yards, the second 100 yards and the last 150 yards. Emi Jedryka, Tierney, and Sophia Buhr took on the field and placed third in 3:07.58. In a non-mystery, very traditional 100-free, Jennifer Pierson gave the Orediggers a silver medal thanks to a time of 53.71. Mystery returned with a 200-fly and 50-breast. Karas and Olivia Kisow were second and third in the butterfly, and Phoebus grabbed silver in the breaststroke. A decrescendo medley relay closed the middle section of the meet. It ran like the crescendo relay, but with distances in reverse order. Burger, Tierney, and Kylie VanderMeer teamed up for bronze.
Following the last break, two races remained. The first was a final mystery which turned into a 200-IM. With Colorado State racing exhibitions, Burger grabbed first-place points thanks to her 2:17.50 while Karas and Swanson earned second and third-place points. The day’s finale was a 500-yard crescendo relay with four legs going 50, 100, 150, and 200. Pierson, Cristal, VanderMeer, and Maggie Wells were the top quartet for the Orediggers after posting a time of 4:46.0. Once again, the Rams submitted their times as exhibitions.
Mines now turns its eyes to the postseason. The Orediggers’ next action will be the 2025 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships running Feb. 11-15 in Grand Junction, Colo.
That’s fun!