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.”