Colorado State University Athletics
Thursday, February 6
USAFA, Colo. / USAFA Natatorium
All Day
Colorado State
at
Air Force (diving only)
Rams Split Up to Complete Regular Season
2/4/2020 2:00:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Divers compete at Air Force Invite for three days; swimmers head to Northern Colorado
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The final competition of the regular season will see the two groups separated once again, but unified in their intent on how to prepare for the Mountain West Championships.
Colorado State's women's swim and dive team has not been together as one since the Phil Hansell Invitational, held before Thanksgiving. This week, the divers will participate in the Air Force Diving Invitational on Thursday through Saturday, with one board worked each day. On Friday, the swim team will head east to Northern Colorado, looking to cap a winning dual record.
With the conference meet two weeks away, the goals for the coaches are a strong finish, with a direction toward a specific attribute.
"I really want to see their consistency. They have to be consistent with the six dives on their list," diving coach Chris Bergere said. "You can't miss a dive badly, because that puts you out of it and you can't advance. So I think consistency is the most important thing. If they can get average scores or a little above average, or average scores and then crush a couple of dives for 7s or 8s, that will make them competitive. Especially Skylar Williams and Rachel Holland. They can stay steady, they have the degree of difficulty, they have the technicality, and they're beautiful divers coming into their junior year."
Williams has already hit the NCAA Zones standard on both the 1-meter springboard and the platform, and Holland is not far off hitting the marks. They will compete on 1-meter Thursday, 3-meter on Friday and finish with the platform Saturday in a preliminary-finals set up.
Colorado State is 36-2 lifetime against the Bears in duals and has won its past three duals. This will be the final meet for some of the Rams, and head coach Christopher Woodard is looking for a continuation of what he's seen since the team has returned from the holiday break.
"We've been preaching in the second half attitude, effort and execution, so those three points always," he said. "I think more than anything, attitude. At this point of the season, we need the effort and we expect the execution, but the attitude can be hard after a full season of getting beat up. Then we start to head into that rest phase, and for some swimmers it's a welcome release, and for others, it starts to get in their head a little bit."
With a win Friday, Colorado State will have posted a winning dual record for the second time in three years, breaking even last season. It would also put the Rams on a four-dual win streak heading to conference, a spark which Woodard feels can carry over to the four-day event in Minneapolis, Minn.
"You always want to win more than we lose. That's the whole point is to put Ws up on the board. I don't look at just the meet record, it's each individual, are we winning certain events during the year, certain relays during the year. Of course, we want to be above .500."
Rams in the Top 10 of the Mountain West
3. Julia Box, 200 butterfly, 2:00.36
4. 200 medley relay (Elsa Litteken, Maddie Ward, Box, Sydnee Whitty), 1:42.44
4. 400 medley relay (Litteken, Ward, Box, Whitty), 3:44.25
6. Skylar Williams, platform diving, 225.83
7. 200 freestyle relay (Whitty, Sarah Mundy, Andrea Basile, Box), 1:34.07
7. 400 freestyle relay (Mundy, Whitty, Basile, Box), 3:24.31
8. Box, 100 butterfly, 55.03
8. 800 freestyle relay (Hope Jestes, Mundy, Basile, Whitty), 7:33.38
9. Abbey Owenby, 1,650 freestyle, 17:08.36
9. Marie Goodwyn, 400 IM, 4:23.44
10. Madison Hunter, 1,650 freestyle, 17:11.65
Colorado State's women's swim and dive team has not been together as one since the Phil Hansell Invitational, held before Thanksgiving. This week, the divers will participate in the Air Force Diving Invitational on Thursday through Saturday, with one board worked each day. On Friday, the swim team will head east to Northern Colorado, looking to cap a winning dual record.
With the conference meet two weeks away, the goals for the coaches are a strong finish, with a direction toward a specific attribute.
"I really want to see their consistency. They have to be consistent with the six dives on their list," diving coach Chris Bergere said. "You can't miss a dive badly, because that puts you out of it and you can't advance. So I think consistency is the most important thing. If they can get average scores or a little above average, or average scores and then crush a couple of dives for 7s or 8s, that will make them competitive. Especially Skylar Williams and Rachel Holland. They can stay steady, they have the degree of difficulty, they have the technicality, and they're beautiful divers coming into their junior year."
Williams has already hit the NCAA Zones standard on both the 1-meter springboard and the platform, and Holland is not far off hitting the marks. They will compete on 1-meter Thursday, 3-meter on Friday and finish with the platform Saturday in a preliminary-finals set up.
Colorado State is 36-2 lifetime against the Bears in duals and has won its past three duals. This will be the final meet for some of the Rams, and head coach Christopher Woodard is looking for a continuation of what he's seen since the team has returned from the holiday break.
"We've been preaching in the second half attitude, effort and execution, so those three points always," he said. "I think more than anything, attitude. At this point of the season, we need the effort and we expect the execution, but the attitude can be hard after a full season of getting beat up. Then we start to head into that rest phase, and for some swimmers it's a welcome release, and for others, it starts to get in their head a little bit."
With a win Friday, Colorado State will have posted a winning dual record for the second time in three years, breaking even last season. It would also put the Rams on a four-dual win streak heading to conference, a spark which Woodard feels can carry over to the four-day event in Minneapolis, Minn.
"You always want to win more than we lose. That's the whole point is to put Ws up on the board. I don't look at just the meet record, it's each individual, are we winning certain events during the year, certain relays during the year. Of course, we want to be above .500."
Rams in the Top 10 of the Mountain West
3. Julia Box, 200 butterfly, 2:00.36
4. 200 medley relay (Elsa Litteken, Maddie Ward, Box, Sydnee Whitty), 1:42.44
4. 400 medley relay (Litteken, Ward, Box, Whitty), 3:44.25
6. Skylar Williams, platform diving, 225.83
7. 200 freestyle relay (Whitty, Sarah Mundy, Andrea Basile, Box), 1:34.07
7. 400 freestyle relay (Mundy, Whitty, Basile, Box), 3:24.31
8. Box, 100 butterfly, 55.03
8. 800 freestyle relay (Hope Jestes, Mundy, Basile, Whitty), 7:33.38
9. Abbey Owenby, 1,650 freestyle, 17:08.36
9. Marie Goodwyn, 400 IM, 4:23.44
10. Madison Hunter, 1,650 freestyle, 17:11.65
- CSURams.com -
Players Mentioned
FREE, BACK, IM
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DIVE
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/ Women's Swimming & Diving
FREE
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
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/ Women's Swimming & Diving
FREE, FLY
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
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/ Women's Swimming & Diving
BREAST, IM
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
FREE, BACK
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
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