The Colorado State swimming & diving program had a great start to its 2013-14 season, earning a split in the Intermountain Shootout over the weekend. The Rams defeated host Colorado Mesa, 309-65, and barely missed out on a win against BYU, 192-176.
“This was a great start to our season,” Head Coach Christopher Woodard said. “There’s plenty to evaluate, and we did miss some opportunities to put away BYU, but we made some progress this weekend. I’m really pleased with what the girls have done.”
On the weekend, CSU took first in 10 total events, including: the 200 Medley Relay; 100 Breaststroke, Cristina Bassani; 1650 Freestyle, Madeline Mastrup; 1-meter diving, Paige Greely; 50 Breaststroke, Bassani; 200 IM, Jessica Shepard; 100 Freestyle, Karin Roh; 200 Backstroke, Yana Garvey; 200 Breaststroke, Megan Lloyd; and 1-meter diving, Ariana Milone.
“We had a lot of winners who earned us a lot of points,” Woodard said, “but we also placed high in other areas, too.
In addition to Bassani winning the 100 Breaststroke, CSU also took second through fourth places, with Tess Simpson, Lloyd and Jenna Beaury placing in the top four. That happened in several other events, as well, including both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, in which CSU took first through third and first through sixth, respectively.
Milone and Greely both earned NCAA-qualifying marks for their performance on the boards. Both competed at the NCAA Diving Zones last March as true freshmen. Additionally, several underclassmen competed very well for their first collegiate performances. Beaury, Alexandra Jacobs, Lauren Kuechler, Lloyd, Gabby Morley, Elizabeth Prasse and Roh each had top-five performances in events.
Fifteen of CSU’s 31 competitors are freshmen, and their performances over the weekend showed the bright future that is ahead for Woodard and his staff.
The Rams host Denver on Saturday at 10 a.m. for the team’s first home meet of the season.
This release was provided to swimswam courtesy of CSU Swimming & Diving.