Courtesy: Colorado State Athletics
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Being home is always nice, but it’s a luxury Colorado State’s swimmers will have for the first time Friday when Northern Colorado comes to Moby Pool for the final event of the regular season.
The dual begins at 5 p.m. With no fans allowed to attend, there will be a livestream of the event.
Unfortunately, the Rams’ divers never received the chance and will instead close out the regular season at the Air Force Diving Invitational, which runs Thursday through Saturday. Competition begins at 8 a.m. each day; live result can be found here and a livestream of all three days will be available.
It is the second consecutive season the Rams have been limited to just one home meet, so for head coach Christopher Woodard, it’s a great way to head into the Mountain West Championships in two weeks by sleeping in their own beds, hitting their own walls on flip turns and coming off familiar blocks.
And coming out fast is what he expects, especially for his sprint group, but even the distance swimmers in a different tone. He’s looking for his sprinters to dictate races, the distance swimmers to start fast, but hold tempo and show a strong kick in the back half of races.
However, he will not put too much weight into results with the way the season has played out.
“I can’t read too much into it. There’s not a season in terms of training and competition to compare with,” Woodard said. “I told the girls we don’t want to temper expectations for this meet or the Mountain West, but we do want to temper our reaction to those things. We don’t have a framework to really guide our reactions. It’s more, let’s go all out. We don’t have to read too much into it, let’s just move on to the next one and fix what’s wrong.”
This weekend will be the third time CSU divers have competed at Air Force, and it won’t be the last. For that reason alone, the upcoming invitational is filled with positives for diving coach Chris Bergere.
“It’s the exact same format as the Mountain West Championships, and that is super helpful, and it’s at the same site, so that’s our home away from home,” he said. “I get to take all five of my divers, and they’re all going to count. We’re going to see a lot of the Mountain West competition, and then we’ll have another two weeks of training and we’ll know what we’re up against.
“It will be a great experience. It’s fun to get out there and compete, and we haven’t had much of that this year. The kids want to get out there and compete, they want the experiences and we’re going to give it to them.”
The 3-meter will take place Thursday, followed in successive days by the 1-meter and platform – marking the first platform competition for the team.
Rams with Top 10 Mountain West Times
5. Abbey Owenby, 1,000 freestyle, 10:26.85a
5. 200 freestyle relay, 1:35.61
6. Liza Lunina, 200 backstroke, 2:03.03a
6. 400 free relay, 3:32.80a
7. Madison Hunter, 1,000 freestyle, 10:29.86a
7. 200 medley relay, 1:45.41
8. Kristina Friedrichs, 50 freestyle, 23.61
8. Elsa Litteken, 100 backstroke, 56.75a
10. Jennae Frederick, 100 butterfly, 56.91a
10. Jennae Frederick, 200 butterfly, 2:06.61a
10. Katelyn Bartley, 200 individual medley, 2:07.82a
