Freshman Class Adds Needed Jolt to Lineup
Be it a winning attitude or winning races, the group was a natural blend
As a freshman, you find your spot.
Christopher Woodard brought in a group of six to his swimming and diving program, and what they walked into was a bit of a revolt. Tired of thinking they were capable of doing things, the Rams’ leadership wanted the team to know they could target goals, then go attack them.
Like beat Wyoming in a dual and break a 12-year losing streak.
So Woodard, looking to inspire, sent out a text to his team: When you cross the border, you’ll be villains. When we return, we’ll be heroes.
Then came a reply from freshman diver Lindsay Gizzi.
“They should be scared of us. Dubs only.”
Yep. They fit right in. Immediately, and with impact.
“I think they were built that way,” junior Sarah Mundy said. “Even when I started, our culture was starting to change from being the underdogs to now we’re trying to chase the leading teams. They came in never thinking we were the underdogs, believing we were good and what we could do. They are all really confident in who they are as people, which helps a lot in swimming.”
At the midpoint of the season, the Rams are 13-0 in duals, the third-best run in program history. There have been nine individual results which have already cracked the top five in program history, and six of them belong to the freshman class. Gizzi now ranks third on the 3-meter board at 311.93 and fourth on the 1-meter at 293.72; Maya White ranks second in both the 500 (4:52.01) and 1,650 (16:28.50) freestyles; Emily Chorpening ranks third in the 500 free (4:52.14) and Maisy Barbosa fourth in the 400 individual medley (4:20.90).
Of the 41 individual-race victories this season for the Rams, the freshman class has a third of them.
Woodard and his staff were sure they were recruiting student-athletes who were tough and knew how to fight to the wall, but recruiting during a pandemic didn’t allow them to get a full feel for exactly the degree each of them carried those traits.
Now they know.
“I’ve been really impressed that despite their totally different personalities, how well they’ve integrated as a group and integrated into the general scheme of the team,” he said. “I don’t think they’re afraid to say something if they think it’s necessary, and I also don’t think they’re afraid come race time to throw down.
“They seem to have all the nerves and anxieties any of our other athletes might possess, whether it’s something intrinsic to them, or a result of veteran leadership or a combination of both, they seem to be able to settle themselves really quickly and stay on task. They don’t come out of that locker room and think, ‘we can’t win this,’ I think they’re thinking, ‘how can we win this?’”
Some people were taught losing is OK, but it’s not OK. Just in general. It’s always better to win for yourself than for someone else, but it feels a lot better to win for someone else.Lindsay Gizzi
There were moments in recruiting where he felt he saw something, “teases” into the potential, he called those moments. They didn’t and couldn’t tell the full story. Not how White would take out a 1,650 free from start to finish and not only never look back, but pick up the pace. That Barbosa would have a gas tank so big that end of an individual medley she’s able to dip into the resources and pull away. He could see maturity in Katie McClelland, sass in Chorpening and drive in Erin Dawson, but the force of those traits were still somewhat covered.
Now on the team, during practice they ask questions. A lot of questions. They seek out solutions to aspects of their swimming they want to correct, everything from stroke technique to race strategy and everything in between. They are fully active participants in their own pursuits of success.
As they all were being recruited, they felt their times fit well into the Colorado State fabric. Even though the world opened up a bit more during their senior seasons, doors were not wide open and training had been impacted. None of them really knew what to expect from themselves their first season.
To be sure, it wasn’t what they’re doing, which is winning races, helping relays and impressing their teammates.
“It wasn’t really no expectations, it was just open,” White said. “I didn’t really know what I was going into, so I was like, let’s see what happens, and I’ve swam really well.”
In some ways, it may have helped. There was no pressure, and Gizzi isn’t one who likes to look at numbers and target them anyway. The opportunity was there to put out their best efforts and see where they fit, which felt more relaxed, not forced.
But from the opening meet, the Intermountain Shootout (which was scored as seven duals), the group stepped forward. Katie McClelland won her first collegiate swim. So did Barbosa. Gizzi hit an NCAA Zones cut her first time out.
“I feel going into college because of COVID, I had no idea what to expect. In a way, I came in with no expectations, and coming in what that has helped me really keep a positive attitude this season, and it’s almost made it better,” Barbosa said. “Everything we have done has become something new and something exciting, and we’re honestly crushing it, so I think no expectations is helping it.”
It was more interesting finding out who each other were. Barbosa was the first to admit she started “stalking” her fellow classmates on Instagram, looking for clues. They weren’t always spot on, however, so they started a group chat, which was basic in early messages, then picked up pace.
They are all paired together as roommates, and almost perfectly. White and Erin Dawson are quiet; McClelland and Chorpening outgoing; Barbosa and Gizzi brimming with confidence. But to fit in socially, they first took their cues from Chorpening, who, as Woodard puts it, will say almost anything at any time. As for Barbosa, she’ll jump into a conversation and take it completely off topic at the drop of a hat.
Barbosa recalled a team retreat, with everybody sitting quietly around until a senior decided they needed a dance circle. So Chorpening jumped in the middle and started break dancing.
The ice was shattered. In some ways, they all provide that bridge to be unapologetically themselves for each other.
“We’ve all taken turns taking different first steps in different areas,” Barbosa said. “Say, I’m not confident to do something, maybe Katie is or Emily, Erin, Maya or Lindsey. We don’t have one freshman leading all the time. I think all of us are equally helping each other.”
Confidence is not in short supply, either. Woodard isn’t the only one Gizzi texts. She sent one to Barbosa before they were roommates, that, while she didn’t want it to come off wrong, she did have a bit of a God complex.
They all jump in the pool – or off the board – expecting to win.
“I think knowing that we don’t like to lose, we also take losses a lot harder,” Gizzi said. “So we go into the pool or on the boards and try harder. Some people were taught losing is OK, but it’s not OK. Just in general. It’s always better to win for yourself than for someone else, but it feels a lot better to win for someone else.”
Meaning the team, and they bring their killer attitude to workouts as well. When somebody breaks into the top five at a midseason meet, Woodard expects it to be an upperclassman, and Kristina Friedrichs has done it twice as an individual (100 butterfly, 100 freestyle) and as part of a relay with Mundy, Anika Johnson and Megan Hager.
When freshmen do it, Woodard takes notice, but he does that every day. So do the veterans.
“It’s huge. The whole mentality, because in swimming, we go into races knowing it’s going to hurt,” Mundy said. “Having the mindset of being able to overcome that during a race and know what they need to do. I talked to Katie about some things, and she was saying, ‘I really like doing this, but I need to work on this.’ So she focuses on that in practice, and having the mindset of this is what I need to do. Then when it starts hurting, they’re still able to do those things they say and having not only what you want physically to do, but having the mental strength to actually do it.”
“It’s huge. The whole mentality, because in swimming, we go into races knowing it’s going to hurt,” Mundy said. “Having the mindset of being able to overcome that during a race and know what they need to do. I talked to Katie about some things, and she was saying, ‘I really like doing this, but I need to work on this.’ So she focuses on that in practice, and having the mindset of this is what I need to do. Then when it starts hurting, they’re still able to do those things they say and having not only what you want physically to do, but having the mental strength to actually do it.”
All of them are like that, too. Dawson has yet to have her breakout swim, and Woodard isn’t sure why, though he’s read the story before. Swimmers go through plateaus where workouts don’t always translate into times during meets. That’s where she’s at, and he’s just waiting for the surge, because all the signs are there.
“I think sometimes there’s a little bit steeper of a learning curve for some athletes. It could be the adjustment to the weight program, it could be the adjustment to college life, but when we watch her in training, both coach Lisa Ginder and I realize we have something here,” he said. “We know. We believe she’s going to be a breakout star, it just hasn’t happened yet. She’s got fluid strokes, she has length and she has size. She’s beating Maya. It’s in there, we just haven’t figured it out yet.”
Their impact on the team can be partially traced to the Rams having posted 36 personal-best times among the upper three classes this season, both in the lanes and the diving well. The youngsters are challenging and the upperclassmen are responding. The personal results have been just as much of a revelation.
Woodard has his swimmers make goal sheets at the beginning of the season. White wrote down a 16:30.00 for her final 1,650 freestyle time. Now she has to reevaluate, and that’s an adjustment, too.
“I just went 2 seconds faster, so I’m shocking myself honestly,” she said. “It’s nice to have that goal to look forward to in the future, and hopefully I can get there.
“I mean it’s kind of scary. Like I’m a little scared I won’t be able to reach that point, but at the same time, I didn’t think I’d have a best time in the mile. I feel I can push myself further, but it’s just a little intimidating at first.”
Gizzi is glad she didn’t have to do a goal sheet, because she doesn’t operate that way. Diving coach Chris Bergere has own formula, one, telling her he expected “great” scores. Not a number, but an adjective open to interpretation. He also informed her during recruiting he was losing two really good seniors and he needed one really good freshman.
No pressure. At least none external. She doesn’t like outside pressure, because she builds it up for herself in her own unique way. She went to Wyoming and didn’t feel good, so she resolved to do her best. She liked the board, and she saw one of Wyoming’s top divers and knew she was good.
Her first thought was to beat her, though she wasn’t guaranteeing anything. She just felt she could. And she won one of the events. Then she went to Houston and won an event at a major invitational. She says she doesn’t care, which sounds odd, but it makes sense to her. What she means is, if she doesn’t care, she doesn’t feel the pressure and she’s free to be her.
“Same thing in Houston. You see people at meets and you’re like, I want to beat this one person,’” she explained. “I don’t know why. I was sandwiched in between all of the Houston divers and it was so intimidating. I saw my score and I was like, ‘this girl needs to get 50 points, and she’s do it, she’s good.’ It came up 49, and I was like, no way. I just have to be able to beat myself to improve.”
Which they have three and a half more years to keep doing. It sounds easy, but it’s not. Sophomore success isn’t guaranteed, let alone stellar senior campaigns. Along the way, each of them understand there will be plateaus to work through, phases of training where the times just are not dropping. It can get frustrating.
But the highs are exhilarating, and they’re all enjoying the here and now. Not just what it means for them, but rather for the team. They have their own futures to look forward too, but this team as constructed is a one-year deal.
“This is our class dipping our toes in the water. We’re not going to have that the next few years,” Barbosa said. “So almost looking in the future, it wouldn’t necessarily be selfish, but in a way it is, because we need to focus on what’s happening now rather than what we have in store for us. It’s definitely important, but it more important to focus on the present than the future.”
Because whatever expectations they lacked, they fully understand the intent they must carry moving forward as the Rams need them to be a vital part of the push at the Mountain West Championships in February.
They were not only new to the team, but necessary.
“I think we definitely needed a really strong group,” Mundy said. “These girls are strong swimmers, and we were starting to build up our program, and that addition put us over the edge. I think it’s funny knowing what it was like to be a freshmen and seeing the emotional maturity throughout my time so far. It’s cool to see how they mature. They already are so far, but also seeing them grow as people will be fun.”
A few months into their first collegiate season, they know their spot. That is to be front and center and in the mix. To at times lead the way, but other moments step back a close look at how things are done. To be quirky, to ask questions, even if they don’t make sense. The upperclassmen have made this possible, but they’ve also done it for each other.
When it came to the jolt the team needed, they were spot on.