The Colorado State Rams swimming & diving squad kept their strong 2016 going with a 186-111 win over regional rival Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, on Wednesday night.
The Rams (3-3) were led by a collection of usual suspects – senior diver Ariana Milone, and all four members of CSU’s 200 medley relay A group – senior Jessica Shepard, senior Cristina Bassani, junior Karin Roh and sophomore Katie Kicklighter.
Milone gave CSU wins in both the 1-meter (season-best 294.60) and 3-meter (286.58) dives. Yet again, both scores were high enough to qualify for the NCAA Diving Zones.
The 200 medley relay foursome took first place with a time of 1:48.55, and all four competitors also took home individual victories. Shepard won the 100 back (57.63), Bassani placed first in the 100 Breast (1:07.90), Roh took the top spot in the 50 Free (24.78) and Kicklighter won the 100 Free (53.68).
Freshman Tonicia Thomas added a win in the 200 Back (2:06.26), winning by over four seconds over second place. Junior Jenna Beaury won the 200 Breast in a tighter battle over teammate Meg Lloyd, with Beaury winning .10 seconds in 2:25.52.
Freshman Ida Donohue was the lone Ram to take two individual victories, winning the 500 Free (5:13.04) and the 200 IM with a season-best time of 2:11.05. CSU freshmen the top three spots in the 200 IM, with Natalie Grothe (2:11.51) and Mackenzie Halligan (2:15.69) taking second and third, respectively.
The CSU divers will compete in the Air Force Diving Invitational this Friday and Saturday before the team gets ready for the Mountain West Championships, taking place in College Station, Texas, from Feb. 17-20.
Northern Colorado
In their final meet of the season, the Bears competed at home against in-state rivals, Colorado State, falling to the Rams, 186-111.
"All in all we had a great meet tonight," head coach Kelly McClanahan said. "Diving came through for us in a big way going 2, 3, 4 in one meter. Carleigh's first and Jenny's third place in the 1000 free, along with going 1 and 2 in the 200 fly were huge for us as a team, too. As a whole, top to bottom, we swam really hard; the girls raced with every ounce of energy they had and I'm really proud of that. We're three weeks out from Conference as of today and I'm really happy with where the girls are at this point especially with their attitudes. As far as I'm concerned, the girls closed out the dual meet season on a high note."
The Bears got the night started with a second place finish in the 200 yard medley relay. Valeria Mihhailova, Courtney Chrzas, Laura Ramirez, and Sydney Kimura picked up the finish with a time of 1:50.87.
Carleigh Barrett and Jenny Brown picked up first and third, respectively, in the 1000 free, with Barrett locking in first at 10:45.47 and Brown following with a 10:56.58.
Sydney Kovar eked out the first place finish in the 200 free, touching the wall just three one hundredths faster than a CSU opponent. Her final time of 1:56.39 earned the Bears nine team points. Kovar also put points on the board with a third place finish in the 100 free, touching the wall at 54.73.
"Sydney's 200 free was amazing. I couldn't believe how she pulled that out – she just swam such a great race and I'm incredibly proud of her for it."
In the 100 back, Mihhailova earned second place, one of two competitors to finish in under a minute (59.17).
The 200 fly brought another first and second place finish for the Bears, with Barrett notching first at 2:08.12 and Ramirez taking second with a time of 2:10.64.
Senior Elle Gawronska took third in the 200 back, posting a time of 2:13.61.
Chrzas finished third on the night in the 200 yard breaststroke, picking up a time of 2:28.93.
In the 12th event of the night, the 500 free, Barrett took second, touching the wall at 5:15.91.
One of two racers to finish under a minute (59.17), Ramirez posted a second place finish in the 100 fly.
The UNC squad finished out the night with first and second place in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Kovar, Mihhailova, Kimura, and Karlie O'Connell took first with a time of 1:41.65, and Brianna Salanitro, Barrett, Brown, and Chrzas took second with a combined time of 1:47.59.
"Today went really well," diving coach Chelsea Popplewell said. "I am finally seeing everything start to click and now it's just putting the finishing touches on what we're trying to fix."
The divers had a successful night, picking up second, third, and fourth place on the 3M and third, fourth, and fifth on the 1M.
Savanna Meadows led the Bears on 3M lists, posting a 268.65. Taylor Walsh and Haley Schneider followed with third (236.55) and fourth (233.48) place, respectively.
The 1M lists fared similarly for the Bears, with Meadows earning third (248.18), Walsh fourth (241.35), and Schneider fifth (233.77).
"Hopefully tonight was a confidence booster going into this weekend. There are always a lot of girls at this meet, but it's a great warmup for Conference. It'll be different than anything we've had so far, but they'll get to dive platform again and they'll be competing against a lot of the girls within our conference as well as a lot of girls from other conferences."
The UNC divers will travel down to Air Force for the Air Force Invite in their final competition prior to WAC Championships. The rest of the team has the next three weeks off to prepare for Conference, which will take place in Houston, Texas across four days, Feb. 24-27.
