Rams Fall to Cougars in First Leg of Lengthy Weekend

PULLMAN, Wash.  – Knowing it was going to be an extended weekend with back-to-back duals on faucet, Christopher Woodard‘s squad knew Friday can be probably the most difficult half as a result of journey and the workforce his Colorado State ladies’s swimming workforce can be going through.

Washington State, which has began the season scorching paced by a pair of Mountain West two-event champions posted a 195-66 victory at Gibb Pool, a 14-event competitors sans diving. The Cougars gained 12 of these occasions (they’ve dropped simply 4 races to begin the season), with the Rams’ Tess Whineray sweeping the 2 backstroke occasions.

The Rams have been swimming for the primary time at sea stage, then compounded that by sporting tech fits within the meet, resulting in a number of season-bests for the workforce – greater than 20 in all.

“I think the biggest thing is we saw some breakthroughs from our secondary performers. Obviously, Tess is going to be the standout; Tess absolutely lit it up today,” Woodard mentioned. “But past that, I feel it was Gabby Hall within the again and Evie Munz within the fly and Claire (Wright) and Ellie (Kennington) within the breaststroke. I feel there have been some good swims right this moment, some season bests and near PBs for some individuals.

“That’s always encouraging going into midseason. But I think this meet laid bare that we’ve got a whole lot of work still ahead of us.”

The Cougars opened the day by setting the primary of 4 pool information, two of them coming by way of Darcy Revitt in profitable the 50- and 100-yard freestyles, the 2 occasions she gained on the Mountain West Championships final season. They additionally picked up two wins within the 100 and 200 breaststrokes from All-American Emily Lundgreen – the convention’s first first-team All-American within the lanes since 2014, and he or she later added a victory within the 200 particular person medley.

It wasn’t simply the Cougars’ front-end velocity which made a distinction, however their depth, ending 1-2 or higher in all 12 of their race wins. That did not sit nicely with the workforce, regardless of touring on the day of competitors.

“I mean, it was humbling to say the least. We had some people who didn’t perform as well as they did just a month ago, unsuited at altitude,” Woodard mentioned. “So, I feel we have now to query, what’s occurring? Is it a psychological confidence factor or are we simply not ready?

“It was definitely noticeable, a long day of travel that they struggled pretty mightily, which is a lesson I should have learned after watching Colorado Mesa come to swim against us. That being said, you’ve got to perform no matter what, because honestly, we just don’t know these days with travel, whether we’re going to be on time, whether we’re going to have potentially a long day of delays. I think we have to wrap our heads around like we can only control what we control. And that happens at our pool during our training. And it happens behind the blocks when we’re supposed to be racing.”


Whineray did, posting season bests in each of her wins. She accepted a problem within the 100 (53.47), pulling away for her win within the 200 backstroke (1:57.32). She had the Rams in entrance within the 200 medley relay to begin the day till Lundgren hit the water within the second leg and adjusted the course of the race.

Now a junior, Woodard has seen her settle for the function she carries for the Rams.

“I think Tess has always been a star on the team since the day she walked onto it,” he mentioned. “I think she’s becoming more comfortable with really being the lead. You know, I don’t think she sees it that way. I don’t think she ever sees it that way. She uses a total team concept, but I think she recognizes more and more that she’s going to be the lead out in a pool that her wins are kind of counted upon. I think at first, maybe that was a little daunting for her, but I think she’s having fun racing right now. And I think she’s embracing that.”

The Rams will flip round and race Saturday morning, going through Idaho in a twin in Moscow starting at 11:30 p.m. (MT).