Rams get conference competition underway in New Mexico
In their fourth meet of the season, the Rams of CSU’s swimming
and diving team look to take on their Mountain West Conference foes
New Mexico and Wyoming at the New Mexico Invitational today at 5
p.m., in Albuquerque, N.M.
Rounding out the rest of the field are New Mexico State,
Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado. CSU had a chance to see
what Wyoming was made of in the Early Bird Invitational two weeks
ago, but this will be the Rams’ first look at New Mexico’s
squad.
“We already matched up with Wyoming and felt good about it, so
it will be interesting to see what New Mexico will have in terms of
new athletes,” said head coach John Mattos.
The competition of this meet looks a bit tougher than the
competition at the Early Bird but it doesn’t seem to concern the
team too much.
“We are going to go into this meet just as any other; expecting
to do what we did at Early Bird and have a dominant performance,”
Mattos said.
Mattos added that he believes this meet should be a true test
for the team.
“This meet will challenge the team physically and mentally,” he
said. “Some will swim good and some not as good. Some will dive
good and some not as good, but it’s time to see what they’re made
of. The thing I’m looking forward to, more than anything, is seeing
how they respond to this type of environment.”
The team travels to New Mexico by bus for eight long hours on
the day of the tournament, and Mattos said he is excited to see how
the team pulls together once it’s time to swim.
The Rams seem to have no doubt that they’ll show up and
perform.
“We’ll win it, but it won’t be easy because New Mexico and
Northern Arizona have good teams,” said senior and co-captain
Kristin Schneider.
Fellow senior co-captain Corrine Hofstetter was also
optimistic.
“We’re hoping to win,” she said. “We’ll have a lot better
competition but overall we expect to win.”
Both swimmers have been very impressive so far this season.
Schneider has the best times on the team in three events: the
100-yard backstroke, 200 backstroke and 200 Individual Medley.
Hofstetter holds the best times in the 500 freestyle, 1,000
freestyle, 1,650 freestyle and the 200 butterfly.
Both were excited to start competing against the other MWC
teams.
“The Rice meet was a good start but didn’t tell us anything
about conference,” said Schneider of the team’s first meet of the
season against Rice University. “Winning against New Mexico will
make us 1-0 in conference and give us a good start.”
Hofstetter agreed saying the Rams are ready for the challenge
that lies ahead.
“It’s time to start looking at conference competition and start
the haul toward the Conference Championship,” she said. “Everyone
is excited to get into the dual meet season.”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.