Colorado State University Athletics
Thursday, February 20
Minneapolis, Minn. / Freeman Aquatic Center
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Mountain West Championships Day 2
Friedrichs Paves Way for Strong Rams Showing
2/20/2020 8:09:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Five swimmers qualify for 200 individual medley finals
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The nature of the event is cutthroat.
In the 50-yard freestyle, there's no makeup space. Swimmers don't have the time in the lane to regroup from a slow reaction off the blocks or a poor flip turn. In the moment, a swimmer hopes it all goes right.
Thursday's preliminaries of the event at the Mountain West Championships only added to the urgency. The big moments are when swimmers hope to have those knockout swims, and Kristina Friedrichs had it all flowing. Seeded 60th on the psyche sheet, she broke out a career-best 22.94, just .04 off fifth on the all-time list for Colorado State's women's swimming and diving program, launching herself from an afterthought to a championship finalist with the seventh fastest time of the morning session at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center.
"I can't say I saw it coming. It was definitely a bit of a surprise," said Friedrichs, who clipped the 23.00 barrier for the first time in her life. "It's been a goal of mine, but it's one of those where there's a few steps I have to take before I can get to it. It was definitely a surprise when I looked up and saw the time.
"It all happened to come together, which is really awesome. It's hard in the 50 to make everything happen perfectly and get it all down."
Friedrichs finished tied for seventh in the finals, closing at 23.12, but she'd already done the big damage. While he may not have seen such a leap coming from the sophomore, coach Christopher Woodard took notice of what she had done the opening day, posting impressive splits on a pair of relays.
He had positioned her for the anchor of the evening's 400 medley team, splitting freestyle sprint duties in those events with Sydnee Whitty. His premonition paid off, because Friedrichs didn't disappoint there, posting a split of 49.38, fourth best in the field.
"It's impressive," Woodard said. "She's done an amazing job. When she gets off the block now, she's starting to look like a freight train."
Friedrichs missed time earlier this year when she broke a bone in her foot, just an awkward occurrence in the life of a college student enjoying her free time. It took a slow build to get back, but the first two days have her feeling ecstatic about her finishing touch.
Woodard also feels a more relaxed approach has helped, noting she put way too much pressure on herself a year ago. She agrees, and the fact she was injured may have helped shape her mindset.
"I just wanted to come into it and see what I could do, because I did miss that opportunity at midseason to see what I could do," she said. "In the end, that was honestly probably the best thing that could have happened to me, hurting my foot. Taking the time to rebuild and reinvigorate myself has helped a lot, and it's definitely made this a lot more fun. I definitely don't have those expectations for myself, I'm just going into it and seeing what I can throw down."
Friedrichs, along with Elsa Litteken, Maddie Ward and Julia Box took aim at the school record in the 400 medley relay, but they came up short by .32 seconds at 3:39.82. Still, they improved their seeded place by two spots in the finals – again, valuable points to pick up.
The Rams loaded up in the 200 individual medley, placing five in the finals, led by the fifth championship swim in senior Marie Goodwyn's career. Of the group, only Goodwyn was seeded to reach a final, and that was for the C swim. She's had a lighter schedule this season, allowing her to "de-stress," as Woodard put it, and he feels it has set her up for strong finish to her time as a Ram.
She placed seventh at 2:01.89, and Ward is proving she's regaining her form from an injury-plagued start of the season by placing 15th in a time of 2:03.46. In the C final, Katelyn Bartley led a trio of Rams with a 2:04.10 to finish 19th, followed by Kate Meunier (22nd, 2:05.08) and Jennae Frederick (23rd, 2:05.83).
"We absolutely needed that," Woodard said. "We swam well, but missed a couple opportunities in the 500 free, and I know some of those kids were disappointed. To have our 200 IMers come in and step up and deliver five nice swims, that's huge."
Abbey Owenby was the team's lone finalist in the 500 freestyle, placing 22nd in a season-best time of 4:58.84. In the 50 free, Whitty placed 22nd in a time of 23.50
Divers Rachel Holland and Skylar Williams competed on the 3-meter springboard, with both reaching the B finals. Each posted a season-best result in the preliminaries, with Holland's a lifetime best at 294.10. Williams tallied a 296.05, just missing the A final, then after a 30-minute break, both were on the board again. Holland scored 287.00 to place 13th, while Williams couldn't duplicate her earlier set to place 16th at 249.80.
Better yet, both scores in the preliminaries qualified both for the NCAA Zone E meet, making it a clean sweep for Williams on the season, while it's the first time for Holland. For diving coach Chris Bergere, this was the outing he felt Holland has been threatening.
"She's been on the verge of having a great meet, but hasn't had it. She needed a good breakout meet, and I knew it was going to come, I just didn't know when," Bergere said. "After the 1-meter, she realized if she dives like she did in practice, she'd be fine. Once the meet started, she was calm and performed beautifully, then she did it again in the consolation finals. It was just brilliant."
After two days of competition, the Rams sit seventh in the team standings with 274.5 points; San Diego State leads with 634.
The feeling on the team is one of a constant build. In the lane next to Friedrichs in the 50 was Litteken, and she also notched a personal best in the race. Afterward, it was hard to see who was more excited. The truth is, they all are, and there are a few Rams who haven't tapped into their individual itinerary.
"I can definitely feel it coming," Friedrichs said. "It's super exciting. You can feel it, and I'm excited for people to start getting into their individual races. From what I've seen from today, there's so much left for the rest of the weekend. I just think we're going to keep climbing."
Preliminaries for the third day begin Friday at 10 a.m. MT, with the finals set for 5:30 p.m. A live stream of the event is on Floswimming.com, with live results posted on the Mountain West website.
- CSURams.com -
In the 50-yard freestyle, there's no makeup space. Swimmers don't have the time in the lane to regroup from a slow reaction off the blocks or a poor flip turn. In the moment, a swimmer hopes it all goes right.
Thursday's preliminaries of the event at the Mountain West Championships only added to the urgency. The big moments are when swimmers hope to have those knockout swims, and Kristina Friedrichs had it all flowing. Seeded 60th on the psyche sheet, she broke out a career-best 22.94, just .04 off fifth on the all-time list for Colorado State's women's swimming and diving program, launching herself from an afterthought to a championship finalist with the seventh fastest time of the morning session at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center.
"I can't say I saw it coming. It was definitely a bit of a surprise," said Friedrichs, who clipped the 23.00 barrier for the first time in her life. "It's been a goal of mine, but it's one of those where there's a few steps I have to take before I can get to it. It was definitely a surprise when I looked up and saw the time.
"It all happened to come together, which is really awesome. It's hard in the 50 to make everything happen perfectly and get it all down."
Friedrichs finished tied for seventh in the finals, closing at 23.12, but she'd already done the big damage. While he may not have seen such a leap coming from the sophomore, coach Christopher Woodard took notice of what she had done the opening day, posting impressive splits on a pair of relays.
He had positioned her for the anchor of the evening's 400 medley team, splitting freestyle sprint duties in those events with Sydnee Whitty. His premonition paid off, because Friedrichs didn't disappoint there, posting a split of 49.38, fourth best in the field.
"It's impressive," Woodard said. "She's done an amazing job. When she gets off the block now, she's starting to look like a freight train."
Friedrichs missed time earlier this year when she broke a bone in her foot, just an awkward occurrence in the life of a college student enjoying her free time. It took a slow build to get back, but the first two days have her feeling ecstatic about her finishing touch.
Woodard also feels a more relaxed approach has helped, noting she put way too much pressure on herself a year ago. She agrees, and the fact she was injured may have helped shape her mindset.
"I just wanted to come into it and see what I could do, because I did miss that opportunity at midseason to see what I could do," she said. "In the end, that was honestly probably the best thing that could have happened to me, hurting my foot. Taking the time to rebuild and reinvigorate myself has helped a lot, and it's definitely made this a lot more fun. I definitely don't have those expectations for myself, I'm just going into it and seeing what I can throw down."
Friedrichs, along with Elsa Litteken, Maddie Ward and Julia Box took aim at the school record in the 400 medley relay, but they came up short by .32 seconds at 3:39.82. Still, they improved their seeded place by two spots in the finals – again, valuable points to pick up.
The Rams loaded up in the 200 individual medley, placing five in the finals, led by the fifth championship swim in senior Marie Goodwyn's career. Of the group, only Goodwyn was seeded to reach a final, and that was for the C swim. She's had a lighter schedule this season, allowing her to "de-stress," as Woodard put it, and he feels it has set her up for strong finish to her time as a Ram.
She placed seventh at 2:01.89, and Ward is proving she's regaining her form from an injury-plagued start of the season by placing 15th in a time of 2:03.46. In the C final, Katelyn Bartley led a trio of Rams with a 2:04.10 to finish 19th, followed by Kate Meunier (22nd, 2:05.08) and Jennae Frederick (23rd, 2:05.83).
"We absolutely needed that," Woodard said. "We swam well, but missed a couple opportunities in the 500 free, and I know some of those kids were disappointed. To have our 200 IMers come in and step up and deliver five nice swims, that's huge."
Abbey Owenby was the team's lone finalist in the 500 freestyle, placing 22nd in a season-best time of 4:58.84. In the 50 free, Whitty placed 22nd in a time of 23.50
Divers Rachel Holland and Skylar Williams competed on the 3-meter springboard, with both reaching the B finals. Each posted a season-best result in the preliminaries, with Holland's a lifetime best at 294.10. Williams tallied a 296.05, just missing the A final, then after a 30-minute break, both were on the board again. Holland scored 287.00 to place 13th, while Williams couldn't duplicate her earlier set to place 16th at 249.80.
Better yet, both scores in the preliminaries qualified both for the NCAA Zone E meet, making it a clean sweep for Williams on the season, while it's the first time for Holland. For diving coach Chris Bergere, this was the outing he felt Holland has been threatening.
"She's been on the verge of having a great meet, but hasn't had it. She needed a good breakout meet, and I knew it was going to come, I just didn't know when," Bergere said. "After the 1-meter, she realized if she dives like she did in practice, she'd be fine. Once the meet started, she was calm and performed beautifully, then she did it again in the consolation finals. It was just brilliant."
After two days of competition, the Rams sit seventh in the team standings with 274.5 points; San Diego State leads with 634.
The feeling on the team is one of a constant build. In the lane next to Friedrichs in the 50 was Litteken, and she also notched a personal best in the race. Afterward, it was hard to see who was more excited. The truth is, they all are, and there are a few Rams who haven't tapped into their individual itinerary.
"I can definitely feel it coming," Friedrichs said. "It's super exciting. You can feel it, and I'm excited for people to start getting into their individual races. From what I've seen from today, there's so much left for the rest of the weekend. I just think we're going to keep climbing."
Preliminaries for the third day begin Friday at 10 a.m. MT, with the finals set for 5:30 p.m. A live stream of the event is on Floswimming.com, with live results posted on the Mountain West website.
- CSURams.com -
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