Rams Optimistic After First Day

HOUSTON – The plan for the season changed.

There was no midseason showcase, a big invitational meet where Christopher Woodard had his team rest a bit and suit up at sea level to hit some encouraging times. The closest his Colorado State women's swimming and diving team did that was when the season opened at the Chick-fil-A Invitational in Fresno, Calif. And the start of the season isn't exactly an ideal occasion to throw down impressive times.

The Rams did anyway, but not the degree of what they would have seen at the midpoint. When the psych sheets were released for the Mountain West Championships – a ranking of every event based on season-best times – the Rams didn't look too attractive as a result.

No relay ranked better than sixth, and the Rams are only predicted to advance five individual 'A' finalists. What the psych sheets didn't consider was the team spent the entire season building and doing so at altitude. Woodard's ideal result would be seeing routine time drops at the conference meet.

Truth was, he didn't exactly know. Now, he's at least encouraged.

The Rams spent Wednesday's opening day of competition moving up in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay, setting what he hopes is just a spark of what will come in the next three days at the CRWC Natatorium on the University of Houston campus.

"As strong as our relays are, at least in the moment, we're stronger individually," he said. "I'm encouraged because most people were at personal bests across the board. We need to work more on transitions on relays, but I really think we're going to show up tomorrow."

The time drops he witnessed were impressive. He also looked at the whole picture, noting that getting to suit up gives his team a jolt of confidence, which is something he has to factor into not only the day, but doing it more often in a season. Confidence gained is hard to lose, no matter when it falls on the schedule.

The last event of the first day was definitely a catalyst as the squad of Megan Hager, Lucy Matheson, Erin Dawson and Anika Johnson posted a 7:19.91, the second-best time in program history thanks to a drop of 8.45 seconds from their seed time, placing sixth. The record was set at the 2022 conference meet, with two different swimmers attacking legs.

They all knew what the psych sheet thought of their team. It was on paper. But paper will eventually dissolve in water.

"I don't think the psych sheet could see, because we didn't have a big midseason meet, that we have so much potential," Hager said. "Frankly, none of us know what we're capable of doing this season, because we haven't had a chance to showcase that, so I think this meet produces a unique opportunity. Within there being low expectations, I guess for us, in a way that takes off some pressure for us. I think we have a good opportunity at this conference meet to show what we can do after building all year."

This weekend, they are shaved. They have on their racing suits. They are at sea level, and those factors alone had them excited. So too did the set up.

They all grew up having a big meet where they were rested nestled into a schedule to see some progress from the training, then go back and rebuild for a grand finale. It might have been a high school state meet. Could have been sectionals or Junior Nationals. This year, the grand finale was the only real chance, and they adapted.

Mentally as much as anything.

"It was tough not having the confidence builder of a midseason meet, but I was excited to get into low altitude, a tapered meet," Katie McClelland said. "It was fun going to California, but I think the whole team was pumped about actually getting to see what we could do, to see what our entire season has gone into."

The evening session started with the 200 medley squad of Matheson, McClelland, Johnson and Lexie Trietley shaving 2.38 seconds from their seed time down to a 1:41.44 to place seventh, one spot better. On average, every 50 the team swam resulted in a .5 drop.

That's what they're counting on over the next three days. McClelland said they've all felt great in the practice sessions leading up the past two days, so they expected to shave time. Now having seen it, they expect even more.

"It's probably not exactly what we wanted, and you never know what other teams are going to do," McClelland said. "I think we all performed our best. I've seen this team all season just train harder than we ever have, compete faster at dual meets. I know what we can do, and it's going to be something special for sure."

The diving pair of Jessica Albanna and Braeden Shaffer put the first points on the board for the team as they competed on the 1-meter springboard. The scoring in the preliminaries was tight, with Albanna placing 18^th with a 214.85, Shaffer a notch below her in the standings at 212.25. It was the first Mountain West placing for both of them.

Despite her total, it was a nice line for Albanna to add to her resume, as the senior has hit personal bests on all three boards this season, qualified for the NCAA Zones for the first time and became one of only three CSU divers in history to rank in the top 10 on all three boards.

In a competition which is scored, not timed, sometimes the good comes with a tinge of disappointment. Albanna is ready to roll with it, and she knows her teammate is as well.

"It just felt good to be able to actually contribute for my team this year, even if it wasn't the way I wanted to start out. I still scored, and that's all that matters," Albanna said. "I got points on the board, and that's what we wanted, both Braeden and me.

"Now we're more worried about doing our best and getting higher in the placings. Hopefully consos for both of us tomorrow. I'm trying to be positive and look at it for what it is, and that's I'm scoring points and I've never been able to do that. I did, and Braeden, too."

Looking for more is a consistent theme. For the swimmers, there are a trio of individual events with the 400 free relay in the finals, and the divers move to the 3-meter board.

Thursday adds in an extra session of swimming, the preliminaries, with the 500 free kicking off the day. To Hager, that's a good place to start, because it's the longer events where she feels the Rams will ultimately excel the most as they come away from the opening day in eighth with 107 points.

"I think it's a good opportunity to come and show what we can do and just come in here and drop time from our season," she said. "I think the 800 relay really showed that. It's so hard to swim a 200 not suited, tapered and shaved. I think a lot of our distance swimmers are going to have huge drops in this meet."

Defending champion San Diego State took two big steps toward repeating, winning both relays, building up 223 points. Nevada, by taking the top four spots in the diving well, is second with 211.

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Jessica Albanna

Erin Dawson

Katie Flynn

Megan Hager

Anika Johnson

Lucy Matheson

Braeden Shaffer

Lexie Trietley