By: Mike Brohard

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado – For a start to the season, quite impressive.

For a start to a career, rather astonishing.

The Colorado State Women’s Swim and Dive Team returned to Day 1 of competition at the Intermountain Shootout at Colorado Mesa University with a lead in all seven matches to be played over the weekend. , and the pace was set by the new team members.

The Rams won two events during the day – both from real freshmen – and another member of their class, a diver Lindsay Gizzi, placed second on the 3-yard table with a score of 291.30, good enough to reach the NCAA zone qualifying mark.

It’s a really good recruiting job during a pandemic.

“It’s Lisa”, head coach Christophe woodard said pointing to the assistant coach Lisa Ginder. “Lisa sets the table. I think that’s really encouraging. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult for a freshman to come up with a new practice situation, not only that, it’s like. adapt to everything – a new environment, what is expected of you in the It’s really encouraging to be in the very first race and to win them, or to be in the top five, it’s really encouraging.

Colorado State is leading the seven matches they will play this year, with tight scores against BYU and Northern Colorado. Saturday produces 11 other events on the slate, with a competition start at 10 a.m.

Rams freshmen wasted no time acclimating to college swimming. For both Maisy Barbosa and Katie McClelland won individual titles in their very first races for the Rams. Barbosa beat the field in the 400-yard individual medley in 4: 30.17, while his classmate Maya White placed fourth (4: 36.21). One race later, McClelland took the lead and defeated Mesa’s Lily Borgenheimer, 1: 05.05-1: 05.09.

Great introductions, to say the least. They made it look easy, but they insist that none of it was. But McClelland has set himself the goal of winning his first race.

“I wanted it, yes,” she said. “I went behind the blocks and saw the girl’s time, and I was like, ‘I can do it, it’s doable. “I was on a quest for blood, and it was so much fun. It was a good race.

“It was like a good run, but my last 12 and a half yards I tend to start turning, so in my goal meeting Woody and I talked about it, and we’re going to start working every day. days later practice not to turn, even when my tempo gets high and I’m tired. But the whole race was so well accepted for the last 12 and a half. “

The first year class did not have the opportunity to make official visits, so coming to campus was to meet the team for the first time. This was to meet the coaches in person for the first time. But they were talking to each other, and it never stopped.

The group of six is ​​quite tight and they form three groups of roommates. And when they spoke, it wasn’t just about coming to Fort Collins and adapting it, it was about making an impact.

“Honestly, I feel like we just did a really good job from the start getting to know each other, so it definitely helped us to participate in these meetings and to make ourselves known,” said Barbosa. “I think we all have high expectations of each other, and I think we all understand that, so we all push ourselves to be our best. I think that’s really what helps us perform well. .

“That was our goal. We were going to be part of this team, we’re going to put the swim team forward because we knew swimming might not be the biggest sport here, but we’re going to change that. . We’re going to do it big, we’re going to do well and we’re going to build the team this season. “

Emily chorpening finished in the top-eight in the 1,000 freestyle, an event where White was second. Erin Dawson had a rough start to the group, her glasses immediately retired in the 400 IM, but she called off the race then came back and lost a split time as a late addition to a relay team.

While they were all in the halls, the divers competed against each other on the 3-meter plank, and Gizzi had no idea what she had to do to do what she was going to do.

She was calm throughout the six dives and happy too. She treated it like training so that she could stay focused on what she had to do, but had no idea what score she needed to reach the zones. He was a teammate Braeden shaffer who broke the news to him.

But she knew she was doing well when she took a dive like she’s never done before.

“I actually hit my back two and a half, which really surprised me,” Gizzi said. “In practice, I was hitting them, but it wasn’t like a hit. It was like, ‘oh, you did.’ But actually, I kicked, saw the water, tore it up. I never did that. “

The Rams opened and closed the day with a strong performance in the relays, with the 200 freestyle taking second place in the first race, the 200 medley team third to end the day. In between, some familiar faces were doing familiar things.

A series of top-eight rankings came from the team as Anika johnson and Megan Hager did it in the 200 free; Kate miller in the 100 breast; Friedrichs, Johnson and Hager in the 50 freestyle; Liza Luna, Barbosa and Elsa Littken in the 100 back; Friedrichs, McClelland and Barbosa in the 50 butterfly; Owenby Abbey and Madison Hunter in the 1000 free; and Jozie Meitz in diving.

Understandably, Woodard’s mind went straight to the strong finish on day two, but as good as the first was, even he had to adjust how he normally perceives a meet.

He was impressed because his freshman didn’t think too much and went out and played. He was just going to follow their lead.

“I tend to hedge my bets a bit, but I look less at missed opportunities and more at those we took advantage of,” he said. “There were some fantastic performances from Lindsay on the boards, Kristina in her sprints, our medley relay looked pretty good, as did our 200 freestyle relay. I don’t know if we are below 3:36. at this point in the season. There was a plethora of individuals swimming really well. “