Colorado State University Athletics
Meet notes: CSU to open 2016-17 against Omaha
10/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
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RAMS SET TO BEGIN 2016-17 AT HOME VERSUS OMAHA
The Colorado State Rams swimming & diving squad will host the first meet of its 2016-17 campaign at Moby Pool against the Omaha Mavericks on Friday at 5 p.m. MT.
Ram Ruckus members in attendance will receive free pizza. There will also be raffles for prizes and other giveaways. Admission is free.
The meet is the first of four that CSU will host this season. CSU will also host Idaho (Oct. 28), Wyoming (Jan. 21) and Northern Colorado (Feb. 1).
“It’s less of an impact on our kids,” Head Coach Woody Woodard, who is entering his sixth season, said. “Travel gets hard, especially for swimmers because you’re doing so much rehab once you get off the plane or a long van or bus ride. So that’s always an advantage. Obviously the second advantage is just being home with our fans. We love swimming at Moby. We like making a hostile environment for opponents.”
CSU is 1-0 all-time against Omaha. The Rams enter 2016-17 aiming to improve on their eighth-place result in the MW last season.
WOODY’S WORDS
(on how having a lot of seniors impacts preparation for the upcoming season)
“I think if nothing else, we’re allowed to lean on those seniors a lot more than years past for a variety of reasons. Obviously, their ability, but they have all gone through the program underneath me. They’ve all almost across the board shown marked improvement in nearly every single one of their races. They are a very tight-knit group. It doesn’t affect anything in terms of how we’re training or how we set up our workouts or what our goals are for the meet. But I think it allows our staff to know that we are in good hands. We can lean on our seniors a little bit more in terms of our expectations of what they can do.”
(on what Haley Rowley and Katie Kicklighter took from their experience at Olympic trials)
“I think in Haley’s situation; Haley had been there once before. So her expectations, in regards to her performance were higher. I think she felt headed into that meet that she was in a good situation. I know she was a little bit disappointed. But now she’s coming into her first full season of collegiate swimming. I think she’s healthy, she’s happy, she’s fired up. For me, I think this is the start of a great era in her swimming. For Katie, Katie’s goal was to have the experience, to make the cut, and be there. I think she enjoyed that aspect of it. She too was probably a little bit disappointed in terms of her performance after battling through injuries last year. But I think that spark in rekindled. It might be a little bit longer trajectory for her, to get her ready for Mountain West championships, but I have no doubt that she is going to be ready for it and she is going to be fired up and she’s going to produce results.”
(on potential breakthrough Rams this year)
“Jenna Beaury is somebody who is coming into her fourth season whose had development nearly every single year in the program so the expectations for her are not only lead in her primary events and obviously our medley relays. She has her sights on that record board and wants to be on top of the Mountain West. Obviously I think a lot of eyes will be one her. Beyond that, there is a throng of kids, whether its Mackenzie Halligan, Ida Donohue, Tonicia Thomas, Rowan Hauber, Karin Roh. I think this is the time where we feel confident as a staff and they should feel confident as a team. We have got not only some top end kids, we’ve got a lot of depth and good depth across the board. I’m looking for big things from really everyone in the program and we will see how our freshmen develop. I’m eager to see what they can do. “
SCOUTING - OMAHA
The Omaha Mavericks were recently picked to finish fifth in the seven-team Summit League by the conference’s coaches. The Mavericks are led by three all-conference honorees from a year ago - Cassandra Jahn, Morgan Stepp and Kylie Vermeire. Omaha took fifth in the Summit League Championships last season after winning four dual meets during the regular season (Western Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska-Kearney, South Dakota State). The Mavericks also took first place out of 13 squads at the Grinnell Invite in Grinnell, Iowa last January.
ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNEES
The Rams 2016-17 roster will feature three athletes who earned all-conference recognition at the 2016 Mountain West Championships. Senior Jenna Beaury will have high expectations entering 2016-17 as she earned an NCAA B Cut time int he 200 breast last season, and earned All-MW honors in both the 100 and 200 breast. Two sophomores on the roster earned All-MW honors as freshmen a year ago - Mackenzie Halligan (400 IM) and Ida Donohue (1,650 free).
NUMEROUS RAMS RECEIVE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE RECOGNITION
Nine members of the 2015-16 CSU swimming & diving squad received Scholar-Athlete recognition from the Mountain West over the summer.
Cristina Bassani, Katie Kicklighter, Kelsey Lawton, Megan Lloyd, Carmen Mand, Elizabeth Prasse, Gianna Salanitro, Nina Stitt and Emily Williams all received the honor. The nine student-athletes represented seven different majors. Swimming & diving had the most athletes honored aside from the track & field and cross country programs.
Players Mentioned
