Colorado State vs Northern Colorado
- January 24, 2025
- Greeley, Colo.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Colorado State Athletics
GREELEY – A long weekend with a quick turnaround seems daunting, but it felt a whole lot better by the end of Friday night.
Colorado State’s women’s swimming and diving team took down area rival Northern Colorado on Friday night, a 161-139 decision for the Rams’ fourth consecutive dual victory. They did it by winning nine of the events – including both relays – with a pair of 1-2 finishes and a set of 1-2-3s to help separate the teams.
Tess Whineray won both backstroke races, leading a trio of Rams to the wall in the 200-yard version, followed by teammates Maisy Barbosa and Sophia Hemingway. Both Barbosa and Hemingway helped set up big finishes for the teams in other races, with Barbosa second to Erin Dawson in the 200 freestyle, Heminway runner-up to Whineray in the 100 back.
The other clean sweep of a race came in the 100 freestyle, as Lexie Trietley doubled down after winning the 50 free, pacing Mia Axelman and Ashlyn Hembree to the wall.
The frontrunners for the Rams have been consistent, but seeing Axelman and Hemingway heat up late is encouraging with the season’s most important meet approaching.
“Some people on the team are going to be leading the pack, but I love when my second and third athletes say I’m not spending my whole time chasing, I’m going to nip at their heels,” CSU coach Christopher Woodard said. “Putting a couple of 1-2-3s in there really helped after the first break, because it was really tight.
“The end of January is typically the hardest point to race, because so much work has been done and it’s a mixture of volume, power and speed. If you’re able to tough it out, and Mia was really impressive. At the end of her races, she was putting her head down and turning over, and Sophie was really good in the last turn. Those are the things we’re working on in practice. If you can do them when you’re tired, imagine what’s going to happen when you suit up and you’re out of altitude.”
Dawson added the 500 free to her victories, while Barbosa brought home the 200 individual medley.
Maggie Di Scipio finished second on both the 1- and 3-meter boards, but with improved scores in the process, her 274.25 on the 1-meter a Zones cut.
“I was so excited. I’ve been waiting for it happen. She’s diving really well in practice, and I was like, it’s going to happen,” CSU diving coach Chris Bergere said. “She was worried, but I see it in practice, and I knew she could do it. She lit it up.”
Whineray, Dawson and Trietley were all involved in opening and closing the meet in style as the Rams won the 200 medley and 400 free relays. Katie Flynn was the fourth member of the medley squad, with Hembree taking a leg on the 400 team.
With Colorado School of Mines coming to Moby Arena on Saturday (11 a.m.) for Senior Day, opening and closing strong was not just a theme for the night, but for the weekend in total. And the medley relay has been basically a given.
“It has been, and really for the last two years. Specifically, this year, it’s been our go-to,” Woodard said of the medley relay. “We have enough personnel where we’ve tried to double up and in certain situations go 1-2. It’s key for us to start off on a good note. It’s so hard to come back from that if you’re not in first.”
Saturday’s senior recognition is slated to being at 10:30 a.m. as six members of the squad – Barbosa, Flynn, Emily Chorpening, Skyler Lyon, Rylee O’Neil and Maya White compete at Moby for the final time.
Courtesy: Northern Colorado Athletics
GREELEY, Colo. – The Northern Colorado Bears came up short against the Colorado State Rams in a dual meet Friday afternoon at Butler-Hancock Pool, falling 139-161.
Kyra Rabess opened strong for the Bears, dominating the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:26.70, finishing 12 seconds ahead of the closest competitor. Martina Yuki Trionfetti earned a runner-up finish in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking in at 24.28.
Maria Erokhina secured two wins for the Bears, taking first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.32) and following it up with another victory in the 200-yard breaststroke.
The Bears swept the top three spots in the 200-yard butterfly. Ellyson Lombardi led the way with a time of 2:05.84, followed by Payten Irwin (2:06.58) and Agathi Manoli (2:09.61). They continued their dominance in the 100-yard butterfly, claiming the top four finishes: Lombardi (57.13), Irwin (58.21), Manoli (59.19), and Lora Konter (59.48).
In diving, Madison Berg excelled, taking first place on both the 1-meter (294.25) and 3-meter (293.70) platforms. Mireya Ruiz placed fourth on the 1-meter (222.15), while Violet Noel secured third on the 3-meter (249.05).
UP NEXT
The Bears Diving squad will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo. to compete in the Air Force Diving Invite on Jan. 31. The swim squad will compete on Feb. 8 at 11 a.m. at home against GCU.