The Colorado State Rams swimming and diving squad picked up its second dual meet win of the season on Saturday, beating the Air Force Falcons 186-114 at Moby Pool.
On a day when CSU’s four seniors – Cristina Bassani, Ariana Milone, Jessica Shepard and Mackenzie Thornton – were honored, a pair of underclassmen stole the show with a pair of wins to help propel CSU to the victory.
“There were some absolutely thrilling swims today,” Head Coach Christopher Woodard said after the meet. “I’m not as concerned about some of the times because the race strategy was a bit off, but I’m more impressed by the fact that when Air Force came in and really countered us in some events that we didn’t back down, and instead we countered back in other events.
“There’s always an extra charge when you have a senior meet,” Woodard said. “It doesn’t guarantee you wins by any stretch of the imagination but I think the team really rallied round the seniors. I think the underclassmen really wanted to send the seniors off the right way.”
Sophomore Katie Kicklighter won both the 50 (24.04) & 100 Freestyle (52.80), while freshman Natalie Grothe won the 100 Breaststroke (1:06.05) and 200 IM (2:08.79) events. The 100 Breaststroke win was the first for Grothe in her collegiate career. The Rams swept the top three spots in the 50 Free with freshman Carmen Mand (24.36) and junior Karin Roh (24.40) taking second and third, respectively.
Milone opened up the day with a win on the 3-meter boards for the Rams, posting a score of 336.75, good enough to qualify for the NCAA Diving Zones. CSU then followed with a win in the opening swim event, taking first in the 200 medley relay with the Rams’ A squad (Shepard, Bassani, Roh and Kicklighter) recording a time of 1:44.31.
Shepard followed that result with a win in the 100 Backstroke (57.06) a few events later, over second-place freshman Tonicia Thomas (58.89).
Milone backed up her 3-meter win with a narrow victory in the 1-meter event, scoring 269.40, winning by less than 11 points over the runner-up from Air Force. Freshman Hailey Spratte won the 200 Back (2:03.75) as the Rams again swept the podium in the event with Shepard (2:04.62) and Thomas (2:06.32) taking second and third. Junior Jenna Beaury led the Rams in the 200 Breast (2:24.65) as CSU pulled away by again sweeping the top three spots as Bassani (2:24.68) and junior Meg Lloyd (2:27.26) placed second and third.
Air Force
The Air Force women’s swimming and diving team fell to Colorado State, 186-114, on Saturday, Jan. 30, in Fort Collins, Colo. The Falcons are now 12-9 overall this season.
In the second event of the meet, the Falcons took the top two spots in the 1000 free as freshman Elisabeth Brechbuhl won (10:32.32) and Sara Menke was second (10:33.79). The Falcons took the top three spots in the next event, the 200 free, as Genevieve Miller won (1:43.72), Menke was second (1:55.06) and Jinan Andrews was third (1:55.23). Miller also won the 500 free later in the meet with a time of 5:06.24. Menke was second in that event (5:09.33).
In the 200 fly, Jessa Tasic won with a time of 2:08.42 and Maria Schroeder was second (2:08.75). Schroeder won the 100 fly (57.36) while Andrews was second in the 100 free (52.88).
In diving, Jessica Horn was second on the 1-meter with 258.60 points and in 3-meter with 259.43 points.
The men’s and women’s diving teams will host the Air Force Diving Invitational, Friday-Saturday, Feb. 5-6, at the Cadet Natatorium. The women’s swimming team is idle until the Mountain West Championships, Feb. 17-21, in College Station, Texas.
