Three School Records Fall as Hansel Invite Opens

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Nov 20

9 AM Prelims/4 PM Finals

Women's Swimming & Diving

at Phill Hansel Invitational

Nov 21

9 AM Prelims/4 PM Finals

Women's Swimming & Diving

at Phill Hansel Invitational

Jan 5

TBA

Women's Swimming & Diving

at Northern Arizona

Jan 10

TBA

Women's Swimming & Diving

at Air Force

Jan 10

TBA

Women's Swimming & Diving

vs New Mexico

HOUSTON – After an uneven start to the day, the inclusion of relays to the festivities had the team surging to the top of the charts.

Colorado State's swimming and diving team broke the school records in both the 200-yard freestyle and 400 medley relays, with Tess Whineray taking down the school mark in the 100 backstroke on the lead leg of the later event as the Phill Hansel Invitational opened Wednesday at the CRWC Natatorium at the University of Houston.

Whineray hit the trifecta as the junior was additionally part of the 200 quad.

"I think we were hit or miss in the morning. Unfortunately, primarily misses, but by the end of it, thank you," CSU coach Christopher Woodard said. "By the night, I think the team started to show up and show a little bit of fire and obviously that relay starts us off on a good note and the 400 medley ended us on a great note."

The finals session started with the 200 free team of Azalea Shepherd, Whineray, Mia Axelman and Lexie Trietley posting a time of 1:31.46 to place fifth, eclipsing the prior standard of 1:31.75 set back in 2017. The 400 medley mark which fell had been set at last year's Mountain West Championships in the same pool, lowered to 3:37.00 in a third-place showing with two repeat members (Whineray and Trietley) and two newcomers to the quad (Claire Wright and Evie Munz). Whineray's opening leg of 52.48 broke the 100 back mark of 52.94 set back in 2018 by Tonicia Thomas.

Whineray will get two more cracks at the individual mark when she swims the 100 backstroke on Thursday. Woodard is also hoping his team will use the excitement of Wednesday night's success to fuel better performances in the prelims and give the Rams more scoring opportunities.

The invitational is a preliminary-finals format, with five heats in the night session. However, only three of them are scoring heats, the final two just extra opportunities. There are benefits to those swims, and Woodard also hopes a bit of a wake-up call for his team.

"I'm going to talk out of both sides of my mouth. We preach patience because we recognize it's not always a linear progression, and yet at the same time, the reality is this is only a three-and-a-half-year window," Woodard said. "If you're not feeling some pressure to perform at the beginning and not taking those lessons under your belt, it can be a slow progression and then next thing you know you're not really getting into your senior year. That's not positive for anyone. I think it's good for them to feel a little bit of the fire by midseason."

Colorado State earned only five scoring swims in the evening session, just one in an 'A' final. Eight other swims came in non-scoring heats.

Trietley placed fifth in the 50 freestyle (22.96), an event where the team added scoring swims from Shepherd (10^th, 22.98) and Axelman (17^th, 23.23). Erin Dawson placed 12^th in the 500 freestyle (4:53.82) and Margo Hauser was 21^st in the 200 individual medley (2:04.05).

The divers added to the total from the 1-meter board as Riley Lee placed 16^th in the consolation finals at 214.80 after scoring 243.60 in the prelims. More points came from Maggie Di Scipio (18^th, 231.85), Sydney Ovesen (22^nd, 227.20) and Makenna Post (24^th, 222.60). The Rams finished the day with 198 overall, sitting in seventh place.

Throughout the day, even if placement was a bit mixed, time drops were common, especially among the freshman crew. A bit of disappointment with a mix of excitement is what Woodard hopes pushes his team to better results the second day.

"I think the team reads that and they're like, oh. Because every once in a while you're going to get somebody who has doubts," Woodard said. "They see that first race and they're like, 'oh, maybe I don't have it. Maybe the training was off. Maybe I'm not in the right position.' And then they see their teammates perform and whether they believe it or not, they're like, 'OK, that gives me tacit approval. I can go, too.'"

Friday's preliminary session begins at 9 a.m. on Friday, followed by the preliminaries for the 3-meter springboard. Finals are slated for 4 p.m.

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