Rams Look to Build off Opening Positives

HOUSTON – There's a bit of precedence in the meet for the team.

It doesn't really matter what the makeup of the team is, where strengths and weaknesses may lie, or even where the meet is held -- Christopher Woodard's Colorado State women's swimming and diving squads tend to build steam after the first day of the Mountain West Championships. Not that Wednesday's opening sessions were bad, just a bit uneven. In the preliminaries, the Rams posted season-best times in 12 of 20 swims.

In a way, senior Erin Dawson can relate on a personal level. A highly decorated senior – she's a three-time Mountain West champion – she was slow coming out of the gates this season thanks to a summer ailment which kept her away from training for nearly two months. For a versatile swimmer with a breadth of success in distance races, it's a big hurdle to try to clear.

At the midseason meet, she was flustered by her times. But one thing she has shown in her career is an ability to fight to the end and deliver her best in big moments, whatever that may mean. It helped give her a bit of purpose for her final collegiate meet.

"This is kind of like it all comes down to this. It's my victory lap, so I think it's just I'm just very grateful to be here," Dawson said. "My goal is to have a lot of fun, make memories, and I don't know … It just means so much that I get to be here another year. I'm just really grateful for that."

She was the team's lone championship finalist, doing it for the third consecutive year in the 500-yard freestyle, an event she won back in 2024. Her times hadn't been what she wanted this season, but she dropped time in the prelims and then advanced a spot in the finals with a signature final leg. She placed sixth in 4:51.61. It's not her school-record time, but it's what she had, and maybe a bit more than what some expected.

Just not Woodard.

"She said she tried something different tonight; she followed (associate head coach) Lisa (Ginder's) directive to kind of just pace it a little bit smarter in the first 200, but unfortunately she started to fall off her pace, but in typical Erin fashion … Erin's got a dog in her," Woodard said. "She see's somebody, she wants to beat them and next thing you know that last 50 is a 2-second drop and she's out-touching someone and moving up a place. So I told her -- she's not super happy with it -- but from a coach's standpoint, that's as much as you can ask."

Dawson remains the two-time defending champion in the 400 individual medley, which comes Thursday. It's another race where she hasn't felt great, but her performance in the 500 free gives her a bit of bounce. She's not the favorite, but she knows what to do.

She will see – and except – what that brings.

"I think so. I'm obviously really nervous. I think that I want it really bad, and I think I've worked really hard, so we'll see," she said. "I still want to win. But I really want to have fun and make memories, especially for my last one."

Fun was had in the 50 freestyle during the day. In the preliminaries, the newest member of the sprint crew, Mia Axelman, knocked teammate Azalea Shepherd out of the top-10 with her 22.97 – just .01 faster than Shepherd's 10^th-ranked time at the school.

In the bonus final, Shepherd moved her way back in, placing 19^th with a 22.93 and now Axelman's out. Just a few minutes later, Axelman dropped more time in posting a 22.88. The junior now ranks sixth all-time, Shepherd tied for ninth.

"I feel like it's really fun. I just kind of started doing the 50 this year and working on speed and power, and Za and Lexie (Trietley) have really pushed me in that," Axelman said. "Just like being stronger on power racks and sprint sets … We're always racing each other and that's also a lot of fun and just carrying out the energy.

"I feel like we kind of like bounce off each other, our energies too. If someone's pulling this weight, we're like, OK, let's do that too. We all kind of hold ourselves to a high standard, and then we see that show up too."

Trietley, who ranks third at the school, won the consolation heat with a 22.80, just .10 off her best time. While she and Shepherd are in their final year, Woodard is encouraged by the work Axelman has put in to reach a goal she had when she arrived on campus.

She just wasn't built for it at the time, he said, but she's constantly worked on changing her narrative.

"I think Mia's development has been gratifying because when she came in and desperately wanted to swim the 50, it was, no, you can't because you've got to do two things," Woodard said. "You've got to get stronger and you got to be able to kick, two weaknesses. So what did she do? She spent the whole year getting stronger and kicking and it shows and now she's a top 10. That's an asset."

Trietley anchored the final event, the 400 medley relay. While the squad just missed the school record it set earlier this season, Whineray gave the foursome a boost when she blistered an opening split of 52.12 in the 100 backstroke, breaking her school record in the same fashion she did earlier this season, leading off that relay.

Another big boost to Woodard for what the rest of the meet can hold for her and the team.

"Hats off to Tess. Tess regained her mojo this year," he said. "She definitely struggled toward the end of last year, so it's gratifying to see someone find the passion for the sport and then be able to execute. I couldn't be more pleased with her.

"So yeah, you have to have the way, the good with the maybe not so good. I mean that relay is still strong. It's 3:37, which is nothing to sneeze at in this conference."

The team picked up points in diving earlier with the 1-meter competed after the swimming preliminaries. Riley Lee led the two scorers, qualifying 13^th in prelims with a 255.25, advancing immediately the consolation final. Sydney Ovesen just missed that line, placing 17^th with a 246.15. Lee finished in 15^th with a score of 229.60, but for the sophomore who placed on all three boards at conference last year, it represented her first final at the championships.

Colorado State sits in eighth place in the 11-team field with 133.5 points. Thursday's preliminaries begin at 9:30 a.m., with the finals set for 5 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Mia Axelman

Erin Dawson

Riley Lee

Sydney Ovesen

Azalea Shepherd