Rams Rally Through First Meet

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COLORADO SPRINGS – The first meet is in the books.

The Front Range Invite hosted by the Air Force Academy was the season opener for the Colorado State women's swimming and diving team's season. The team finished fourth overall at the meet with 711 points.

For the second day of the meet, the Rams placed first in three races including the 100-yard backstroke, 400 individual medley and 200 medley relay with Tess Whineray, Katie Flynn, Erin Dawson and Lexie Trietley. Whineray, Dawson and Trietley also placed second in the 400 free relay with teammate, Azalea Shepherd with a time of 3:28.42.

Whineray's sophomore season is looking like a carryover from last year. While placing in multiple relays, she also won the 100 back with a time of 55.39 and placed fourth in the 200 free with 1:55.65.

When it came to standouts, her name was listed first by coach Christopher Woodard.

"One of them is Tess Whineray, she is picking up where she left off last year. She's undoubtedly one of our most competitive and talented swimmers," Woodard said. "She put in an amazing amount of work this summer, she came back hungry, and she will likely be ranked among the top three in the Mountain West, if not in first place in many of her events. She's going to be a handful for a lot of opponents all season long."

A swimmer who also had a successful day was senior Maisy Barbosa, winning in the 400 IM with 4:34.15 and taking second in the 100 back at 55.39. Maya White placed in multiple events as well, including the longest distance race of the meet. She placed third in the 1650 free with a time of 17:46.84 and fourth in 400 IM with 4:37.93.

Maggie DiScipio had another good day of diving. She placed fifth on the platform with a score of 187.85. This meet is unique for the divers because it not only has platform diving, but the diving runs at the same time as the races making it harder for the swimmers and divers to cheer on each other.

"We don't get to see every dive, so we just make it a priority, if you've got a chance between events, get over there, watch a dive and cheer on the divers. The divers also come over to us between rounds and talk to us," Woodard said. "Riley Lee, one of our freshmen, kept updating us on all the dives because we were watching the dives from afar and watching the scores on the board."

This meet is challenging since it takes place above 7,000 feet in elevation. The first-year swimmer Skyler Lyon, a fifth-year, and the freshmen divers had not competed at such a high altitude. It's an adjustment and has led to a lot of fatigue for the team over the course of the two-day meet.

In addition to the challenge of adjusting to attitude, day two was also tough for the team physically, especially with three swimmers having to sit on the sidelines. Regardless of everything, the team stuck to their motto, "win the deck," and showed out for their teammates.

"We want to be the most energetic team, and they came right out of the gate, got together, they're out there cheering, they are standing along the sides. Thats the kind of energy we need for the long haul, so they didn't disappoint there," Woodard said. "I think it even helps the other ones that are on deck because it gives them the realization 'ok when I jump in the water, I'm going to have this wall of green and white standing out yelling my name.'"

The Rams stuck together, fought through fatigue and finished their first meet of the season. Returning from AFA, the team will be racing at lower altitudes and continuing to bring a supportive energy to the deck.

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- STALWART -

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Players Mentioned

Maisy Barbosa

Erin Dawson

Katie Flynn

Riley Lee

Skyler Lyon

Azalea Shepherd

Lexie Trietley

Tess Whineray

Maya White