RAMS RETURN TO MOBY POOL TO HOST IDAHO
The Colorado State Rams swimming & diving team will host the Idaho Vandals on Friday at 5 p.m. at the Moby Pool. The meet will be CSU’s ‘Orange Out’, and the first 150 students in attendance will receive a free orange CSU swimming & diving t-shirt.
CSU returns home for its second meet at Moby Pool of the year. The Rams defeated Omaha in their season- and home-opener on Oct. 14. The Rams visited the Denver Pioneers on Saturday, falling to the home side but winning both diving events.
The top diver for the Rams was senior Emily Williams, who won the 1-meter springboard with a season-high score, and ultimately earned her first Mountain West Diver of the Week honor as a result.
The home dual meet is the last time CSU will compete at Moby Pool until Jan. 21, 2017. CSU will next head to Houston for the Phil Hansel Invite (Nov. 19-21) before participating in a tri-meet in Albuquerque, N.M. against Air Force and New Mexico.
WOODY’s WORDS
On the team’s mindset through two meets, and after a loss at Denver last week…
“You never want to count moral victories when you lose, but I think the team likes where they’re at. There were some positives in there, and a lot of great diving. We feel confident with where we are at, and where we are going.”
On the diving success, after multi-time all-conference diver Ariana Milone’s graduation…
“Any time we have someone like Ariana Milone move out of the program, it’s a detriment. Sometimes those kids that were previously in the shadows can come up and realize that it’s their time. I am really happy with where we’re headed in diving.”
On preparing for the team’s third dual meet in as many weeks…
“This is ideally what we want to do. We want to race competition every week, because that’s how we measure ourselves. It’s tough balancing academic life and social life, while also preparing to race every week. That becomes a challenge. It’s a test of their life skills and race skills.”
SCOUTING – IDAHO
Idaho has yet to compete this season, aside from an intrasquad meet it hosted on Oct. 17. The Vandals will have an extended stay in Colorado, as they participate in a tri-meet hosted by Northern Colorado on Saturday. That meet will also include New Mexico State. CSU is 1-0 all-time against Idaho in dual meets.
WILLIAMS NAMED MW DIVER OF THE WEEK
Emily Williams was a standout for the Rams at Denver on Oct. 22, and earned her first career MW Diver of the Week honor as a result. Williams placed in the top three in both springboard events at Denver on Saturday, earning a total of 12 points toward the Rams team score. Williams won the 1-meter event with a season-high score of 243.30, and placed third in the 3-meter with 222.38 points. The Laramie, Wyoming, native was also named a MW Scholar Athlete in July, and is CSU’s lone senior diver.
COMPARING THE RAMS IN THE MW
Multiple Rams rank well on the MW top times list. Haley Rowley has the top time in the league this season in the 200 Back (2:02.17), and teammate Rowan Hauber is fifth (2:03.50). Tonicia Thomas has the second best 100 Back mark (56.40), and Hauber is again fifth (56.78). Rowley also has the second best time in the 1000 Free (10:22.46). Katie Kicklighter ranks fourth in the 50 Free (23.90). For relays, CSU is fourth in the 400 Free (Kicklighter, Carmen Mand, Rowan Hauber, Teagan Griffith) and fifth in the 200 Free (Karin Roh, Kicklighter, Veronica Morin, Griffith).
ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNEES
The Rams 2016-17 roster will feature three athletes who earned all-conference recognition at the 2016 Mountain West Championships. Senior Jenna Beaury will have high expectations entering 2016-17 as she earned an NCAA B Cut time in the 200 breast last season, and earned All-MW honors in both the 100 and 200 breast. Two sophomores on the roster earned All-MW honors as freshmen a year ago – Mackenzie Halligan (400 IM) and Ida Donohue (1,650 free).
NUMEROUS RAMS RECEIVE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE RECOGNITION
Nine members of the 2015-16 CSU swimming & diving squad received Scholar-Athlete recognition from the Mountain West over the summer.
Cristina Bassani, Katie Kicklighter, Kelsey Lawton, Megan Lloyd, Carmen Mand, Elizabeth Prasse, Gianna Salanitro, Nina Stitt and Emily Williams all received the honor. The nine student-athletes represented seven different majors. Swimming & diving had the most athletes honored aside from the track & field and cross country programs.
Swimming news courtesy of CSU Swimming & Diving.