Boise State Claims First Win over PAC-10 Opponent

The Boise State swimming and diving team continued its early season success with a convincing 172-116 win over the visiting Washington State Cougars. The win marks the first time the Broncos have taken down a Pac-10 team in a dual meet.

“We have a lot of respect for Washington State, so to beat them here (in Boise) shows that we are in a really good place as a team,” said head coach Kristin Hill. “We had a hard week of training so it was a good surprise to have the team swim this fast, which really shows a lot about the spirit of this team.”

The 200 medley relay set the tone for the rest of the day with a first-place finish over a pair of Cougar teams. Morgan McLain, Emily Irvin, Amber Boucher and Stephanie North edged out a victory with a time of 1:45.90.

McLain had a career day after helping the relay team to the top spot. She finished second in the 100 back with a career-best time 57.58. Denise Green took fourth in the event as well. McLain had an even more impressive performance in the 200 back when she took the title with another career-best time of 2:04.57. Green took second to give the Broncos a 1-2 sweep.

North swept the sprint freestyle events with first-place finishes in both the 50 and 100 free. She took the 50 free title with a time of 24.35 and out touched the Cougars in the 100 free with a time of 52.63. Kelly Forrester was the next Bronco finisher in both events, taking fourth in the 50 free and third in the 100 free.

Irvin matched North’s performances by sweeping the breaststroke events for two more Bronco wins.  She recorded the top times of 1:05.81 in the 100 breast and 2:22.55 in the 200 breast. Erin Stotts took second in the 200 breast to give the Broncos consecutive 1-2 finishes.

Jennifer Cahill kept up the success of last weekend with a top performance in the 1000 free and a second place finish in the 500 free. Cahill, Rachael Meisner and Katelyn Lofland finished 1-2-3 in the 1000 free to begin the individual events and give the Broncos an immediate lead that they would not relinquish.

Erin Lionberger swept the diving events for the Broncos, recording a season-high 232.70 in 1-meter and a 245.02 in the 3-meter. Tana Loan took second in the 1-meter and third in the 3-meter while Lexi Pfeiffer took third in the 1-meter and second in the 3-meter.

The BroncoS ended the day the same way it began with another relay title in the 400 free relay. Boucher, Stevie Hughey, Chelsea Lopus and North recorded a time of 3:29.84 to take the title and secure the win for the Broncos.


The Washington State swim team had five different competitors win events, Saturday, but it was not enough to top Boise State in its season opener. The Cougars lost by a score of 178-116, with 32 of BSU’s points coming from diving events, in which no WSU athletes competed.
 
“Boise State was the better team today.  They have showed growth as a program and they backed it up with solid racing today,” said WSU Head Coach Erica Quam.
 
Michaela Ahlin was the Cougars’ leading point-getter (18), winning both the 100 and 200 butterfly, with times of 57.04 and 2:04.59, respectively. The senior was also a member of two second-place relay teams. Junior Talor Whitaker added 17 points to the team’s total by winning the 200 Individual Medley (2:07.30), and taking second in the 200 free and 100 fly.
 
Juniors Rugile Mileisyte (100 back) and Jennifer Dean (500 free) each grabbed and individual victory. Emma Neely took first place in the 200 free by out-touching her teammate (Whitaker), and winning by less than two-tenths of a second.
 
Newcomer Shelbi Luchini finished with seven individual points, leading all WSU freshmen. She earned third-place finishes in the 100 back (59.23) and the 200 back (2:07.45).
 
Quam hopes her athletes will use the opening meet as a tool to help them in the future.
 
“It is a learning experience. We have people on the team with tremendous potential, but potential doesn't mean much. We did have people that got better as the meet went on, so getting back into racing will help us each weekend. What will be telling is how we respond, in workouts and the next time we race. We have to put the lessons we learned into our training and our racing from this point forward.”
 
The WSU team will return to Pullman next weekend to host the third annual Debbie Pipher Memorial Invitational Oct. 23-24. Events will begin at 5 p.m. Friday at Gibb Pool.