Rams Stick to Plan and Finish Third

HOUSTON – There was a directive. Nothing written in stone, just a promise to put a full-out effort into the task.

There wasn't a line drawn in the sand, or in the case of Colorado State's women's swimming and diving program, in the standings. Move up. That's all they wanted. Didn't pick a spot or set a target. Improve. Simple as that.

Coaches will score out a meet based on the psyche sheet. CSU coach Christopher Woodard did his own projection, one which met the directive. It did not have his Rams placing third this weekend at the Mountain West Championships at the CRWC Natatorium on the University of Houston campus.

But that's where the team finished. The 897 points they scored was a return to yesteryear, representing the best finish since 2002.

"If you set a deadline or a target, sometimes it creates more frustration," Woodard said. "Everyone scores, personal bests and we rack up points and the accolades and let's see what happens. You score it, and you realize it was if everything goes right this is where we would be, but life doesn't always work that way. It was the ultimate goal."

Maya White learned as a freshman not to set hard expectations, feeling frustration personally. She said that would be the advice she would give to the current freshmen, though it seems Tess Whineray has already figured it out on her own in one night.

Colorado State didn't let the past dictate the immediate future of this meet. It was present and seized upon moments. It was a meet where the Rams set five school records, including three relays, capped by the show-closing 400-yard freestyle event. Leading Fresno State by 8.5 points and with relays counting double, CSU needed to keep the Bulldogs in its shadow, or at the very least, stay in theirs. Instead, the Rams improved four places from their seed to place fourth, surging ahead of Fresno State with a 3:20.21 to reset the program standard.

That ability started early and never stopped. Along the way, Erin Dawson – who anchored the 400 free quad – won two conference titles, set two school records and was named the meet's Most Outstanding Swimmer. But it wasn't just her. Four different athletes produced six NCAA B cuts, Dawson and Whineray two each, White and Sydney VanOvermeiren the others.

"I was surprised, and mostly just grateful. Really, I'm just happy to be here," Dawson said. "I'm grateful for the amount of support, not only that I had but we had. We have our families, and they do the '1-2-3 Go Rams!' It was teammates supporting teammates. It was just super-cool to see, and everybody was happy for each other no matter what you did

"I definitely love competing for my team. That's why I get so hyped for relays. It just means a lot more to be competing for your team, other than yourself."

White started the finals session with a runner-up finish in the 1,650 freestyle. She swam the race she wanted, lowered her time to 16:17.43, one which ranks second at the school.

She couldn't control what Nevada's Frederica Kizek did, but she stuck with her plan and finished just shy of a school record, dropping 13 seconds from her midseason time. In 32 50-yard splits, she only had three in the 30.0s, all of them low, too.
"It was a lot of hard work I put into it, so I'm glad it was finally able to pay off. I've been pretty consistent the past couple of years, so it was really nice to see that time drop finally," White said. "I think was 10 seconds from my previous best. It was just a lot of hard work.

"You get the feeling with longer races, especially training in practice, you know what times you're going, and you think, I can probably expect this. A lot of it is mental prep before. When you're swimming the race, it's hard to figure out what you're going or focus on records. It's just being prepared to do what you need to do. In the middle there, I kind of felt it fall apart a bit. The goal was to hold consistent 29s, but I was happy overall."

Then she watched in amazement at what Whinery went out and accomplished in the 200 backstroke.

A night after placing fourth in the 100 version of the race (she wanted third), she removed any and all expectations and replaced them with a simple plan to just swim fast. Which she did, her 1:55.27 which placed her second in the race and in the school's books. What White would have told her she had already told herself.

"Tonight, I went in, and I didn't have any expectations, because last night I put too much pressure on myself and I think that really got to me," Whineray said. "Tonight, I just wanted to swim well. I wanted to race fast and have a good time, and that's what I did."

So did her teammates who watched.

Consider White among her biggest fans, as her final 100 blazed her past a few folks and left her behind only the defending champ, San Diego State's Alex Roberts. Whineray said it hurt to the point her legs nearly gave out leaving the pool. With a smile, she said it was a great feeling.

"I love watching her. Especially that last 100. That was insane," White said. "I was, oh my God; my knuckles were white the whole time. It was crazy, so much fun. I love watching the sprinters and the races I don't do. I watched that 2-back and I can't even imagine."

The Rams had other championship placings, with Lexie Trietley taking fifth in the 100 free, her 49.63 ranking third. Lucy Matheson placed seventh in the final individual swimming event, the 200 fly with a 1:59.95. Along the way, the depth was showing up just as Woodard had hoped.

If he had one hard line in his mind it was his team get back to everybody contributing. Every Ram did, with Delaney Engel and Emily Chorpening adding points in the mile; Sophia Hemingway, Rachel Saxon and Maisy Barbosa in the 200 back; Megan Hager in the 100 free; Sydney VanOvermeiren and Maddi Geyer in the 200 breast; and Rylee O'Neil in the 200 fly.

Along the way, the Rams added more than 20 names to the top-10 lists in events. For the seniors, it was a thrilling way to exit the program.

For that group, the meet can produce an interior struggle of emotions, the desire to compete while understanding it will be the final time. Diver Jozie Meitz didn't really think about it until her final dive on platform. It's an event she had never competed in prior to coming to Colorado State. As she leaves, she ranks third all-time after a score of 222.85.

The final qualifier for the consolation finals, she moved up three spots. In her final competition, she had never been better.

A perfect wave to the career.

"I think it didn't really feel like my last day, but I think getting up there for my last dive it kind of all hit me," she said. "It was a fun day. I didn't think platform would go this way, so it's exciting. That's pretty amazing. I didn't expect to hit some of these marks, so it was pretty cool."

The senior class closes out with the same feeling as a team. Never in their tenure has the team been better. Heck not in the past two decades. The Rams' best seasons in the Mountain West were the first six, never finishing lower than fourth in the team standings.

What the elders wanted, the youngsters sensed. Then they did their part.

"The drive from the team definitely helps," Whineray said. "Everyone wanted everyone to do well. It was a whole team. We wanted to move up from seventh, and that attitude really helped."

After opening the first part of this decade with fifth-place showings, there was a dip to seventh last year. When the meet opened, they didn't point to a particular place, they just traveled wherever their ambitions would lead them and call it good.

Actually, really good.

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Players Mentioned

Maisy Barbosa

Emily Chorpening

Erin Dawson

Delaney Engel

Maddi Geyer

Megan Hager

Sophia Hemingway

Lucy Matheson

Jozie Meitz

Rylee O'Neil

Rachel Saxon

Lexie Trietley

Sydney VanOvermeiren

Tess Whineray

Maya White