Relays Kick Off 2020 Mountain West Championships

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Oct 3

5:00 PM

Women's Swimming & Diving

at Front Range Invitational

Oct 4

11:00 AM

Women's Swimming & Diving

at Front Range Invitational

Oct 24

2:00 PM

Women's Swimming & Diving

vs Colorado Mesa

Oct 24

2:00 PM

Women's Swimming & Diving

vs Denver

Oct 31

4:00 PM

Women's Swimming & Diving

at Wyoming

LAS VEGAS – As far as Christopher Woodard knew, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was broken. After the first day of the Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships, he knows his team is not.

Colorado State's women produced a time drop and a first time as the event began Wednesday at the Buchanan Natatorium on the UNLV campus. The Rams dropped nearly 2 seconds in the 200-yard medley relay, then came back and joined the rest of the conference in swimming the 800 freestyle for the first time this season. In both instances, CSU came away with a sixth-place finish, giving it 96 points heading into the first of three full days of competition.

Thursday's preliminaries begin at 12 p.m., with the finals slated to start at 7:30 p.m. Back in the Centennial State, the diving portion of the competition gets underway with the 1-meter springboard at the Air Force Academy Natatorium. The preliminary round starts at 12 p.m., with the consolations finals coming right after. The finals for the event take place at 6 p.m.

The quad of Elsa Litteken, Kate Meunier, Jennae Frederick and Kristina Friedrichs produced a time of 1:43.57 in the 200 medley relay, dropping 1.84 seconds and doing it from Lane 1. Friedrichs anchored the team with a strong split of 22.53 in the freestyle portion (third best in the race), getting the team emotionally charged from the start.

"The highlight was just seeing how excited they all were behind the blocks," Woodard said. "This isn't necessarily what we would call a championship pool, but because it's a little bit tighter quarters, I think the volume was up for them. To see them reacting to it, kind of loosen up and jump behind the blocks and dance a little bit, I think that will stand out from the first day. Then we'll see how we build on that."

The rallying cry – as a joke – was doing it for the ancient Italian building, which is still standing at nearly 650 years old. Olivia Chatman had Woodard convinced the day before the team left for the meet it had fallen.

All pranks aside, Friedrichs said she did her part for the team, making a relay the perfect way to get a championship meet out of the blocks.

"It was just exciting. It's a good race to get out and just shake the nerves off," the junior said. "It's good to go out and do something with friends and on a relay. There's just another level of excitement, and it gets things off my mind because I'm just so focused on the people I'm going to swim with."

In the nightcap, Woodard was able to get a trio of freshmen their first swims in a championship setting, as Megan Hager led off the team, with classmates Kendra Preski and Anika Johnson swimming the final two legs. Along with sophomore Sarah Mundy, the Rams posted a time of 7:24.14.

"Any time you're looking at a relay and they're doing that well and they're all young ones, you start getting super charged thinking about the future," Woodard said. "I think it helps the other freshman. They see their teammates, and it helps wash some of the nerves away for them when they're doing to compete individually tomorrow."

Like the first relay, Woodard was impressed with the anchor leg of Johnson, a 1:50.39, and the swim of Mundy, who went 1:50.27.

Friedrichs was also encouraged by the enthusiasm on deck, believing it is something the Rams can build off over the next three days. The key, she said, is keeping the excitement up and continuing to encourage each other in their individual pursuits.

"I think that our team typically picks up momentum as the meet goes on, so I'm not worried at all," she said. "I think it's a different situation. Things are weird with COVID, we've never had a meet like this. It's weird with no spectators. Life is weird. I think people are ready to go now. I think the jitters are gone and we're just ready to go at this point."

Two-time defending champion San Diego State kick-started its pursuit of another title by winning both events.

Thursday's preliminaries begin at 12 p.m., with the finals slated to start at 7:30 p.m. Back in the Centennial State, the diving portion of the competition gets underway with the 1-meter springboard at the Air Force Academy Natatorium. The preliminary round starts at 12 p.m., with the consolations finals coming right after. The finals for the event take place at 6 p.m.

"We're not trying to compare it to any other year. If we're dropping time, then we must have done something right in terms of our training and our rest," Woodard said. "I think we're encouraged by some of the splits. In our sprints we maybe have some work to do. I'm happy with the 200 medley relay, seriously very happy with the back end of that relay, particularly Kristina's split. The 800 free relay, across the board, that was a great race for us."

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