Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Mountain West Championships
Recap: Rams move up the leaderboard on third day at Mountain West Championships
2/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
MW Swimming & Diving Championship Central
MW Swimming & Diving Championship - LIVE STREAM
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Colorado State Rams swimming & diving squad jumped up two spots on the team leaderboard with a strong third day at the Mountain West Championships in College Station, Texas.
The Rams moved from ninth to seventh in the standings heading into the final day of the event, sitting at 168 points overall, ahead of New Mexico, Air Force and Fresno State, and 29 points behind San Jose State in sixth.
After CSU had a disappointing second day, only scoring in two events, the squad knew they needed to turn things around on Friday.
“Today was much better,” CSU Head Coach Christopher Woodard said. “It was a real shot in the arm for us. We talked about how we had goals to move up in the standings and score more points here. The girls all had standards they wanted to meet. It was really their attitudes that produced the results today; not the other way around.”
The Rams had three athletes reach A finals, led by a fifth-place result from junior Jenna Beaury in the 100 Breast, where she scored a personal-best 1:02.43 in the final, good for her second NCAA B cut time of the season, with the other coming in November in the 200 Breast. Senior Jessica Shepard took sixth in the 100 Back, recording CSU’s best time of the year with a 53.89, also an NCAA B cut time. Freshman Mackenzie Halligan placed eighth in the 400 IM (4:25.84), after registering a personal top time in the discipline in the morning preliminaries with a 4:23.84.
With Shepard and Halligan each scoring significant points for the Rams, Woodard remarked that it’s a good sign for his program.
“That’s what you want to see; people finishing their careers strong and freshmen really emerging in these moments,” Woodard said.
The 400 medley relay group, with Shepard, Beaury, freshman Tonicia Thomas and sophomore Katie Kickligher, also gave the Rams a big boost on Friday, smashing the two-year old program record by 1.70 seconds with a 3:40.57, placing fifth after being seeded eighth in the event.
Freshman Ida Donohue and junior Alexandra Jacobs each scored points in the 400 IM, taking 11th and 14th, respectively. Donohue set CSU’s top mark for the season in the B final of the 400 IM, finishing in 4:22.95. Thomas picked up a 16th place result in the 100 Back, and set a personal best in the prelims with a 54.84.
The final day of the 2016 Mountain West Championships will begin with prelims at 11 a.m. CT/10 a.m. MT tomorrow. A full rundown of events and links to live scoring and live video are available here.
Team Standings (Day 3 of 4)
1. Boise State University 430.5
2. Nevada, University of 419
3. San Diego State University 366
4. University of Wyoming (W) 309
5. University of Nevada, Las Vega 259
6. San Jose State University 197
7. Colorado State University 168
8. New Mexico, University of 158.5
9. U S Air Force Academy (W) 142
10. Fresno State University 127
