Swimming and Diving

Now that the season has come to an end for the CSU women’s

swimming and diving team, a brush of emotions has hit them square

in the face.

“I can’t tell you how much this senior class of Kristin

Schneider, (Melissa) Fischer, Corrine Hofstetter, Katie Peck, Paula

Langner, Jamie Robinson and Lori Vigil has meant to the level of

success that this program has attained,” head coach John Mattos

said.

“They are exemplary student athletes; incredible young women

with wonderful futures and I am going to miss them terribly.”

The Mountain West Conference Championship was what this season

was all about for the Rams. Unfortunately they came up short in the

championships falling to reigning champion Brigham Young. The Rams

took second place, scoring a total of 607.5 points while BYU scored

a league-best 725 points.

“They’re (BYU) always really tough, but I didn’t expect them to

win by as much as they did,” Hofstetter said.

CSU beat BYU in their dual meet earlier this season;

unfortunately the Cougars had the edge when it came to the MWC

championships.

UNLV finished in third followed by Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming,

Air Force and San Diego State.

Hofstetter successfully defended her conference title in the

200-yard butterfly, beating the competition by more than a second

with a time of 2 minutes, 04.07 seconds.

“It was sort of my motivation,” Hofstetter said of the 200

butterfly.

“It was what I was looking at all year; it was a good way to end

everything.”

Paula Langner finished third in the 100 backstroke igniting her

teammates Elizabeth Jones and Katie Peck to finish fourth and

seventh respectively.

“I’m going to miss the team,” Langer said after competing in her

last meet as a Ram. “I don’t think there’s anything that compares

with having this team with you and behind you.”

Robinson finished sixth in the 200 breaststroke with a time of

2:21.61 followed by Fischer in eighth place with a time of

2:23.38.

The Rams’ 400 freestyle relay team continued its dominance

finishing .02 seconds ahead of BYU. The team, of Schneider, Peck,

Langner and Elizabeth Jones swam to an NCAA provisional qualifying

time of 3:24.55.

Schneider placed second in the 200 backstroke with an NCAA

provisional qualifying time of 2:01.64.

At the conclusion of the MWC championship Schneider was named

Mountain West Conference Swimmer of the Year and also received the

senior recognition award. Schneider is the first CSU swimmer to

receive the swimmer of the year award since Amy Van Dyken in

1994.

“It’s taken them too long to give her that honor and I’m

extremely pleased and proud that she received both honors in the

same year,” Mattos said.

Though the team didn’t reach its goal of winning the MWC

championship the Rams didn’t let it become a damper on their entire

season.

“We really wanted to win really bad, but I think the way we

stayed together as a team and our accomplishments wouldn’t make it

a disappointment.” Fischer said. “We all went out there and gave it

our all. You can’t be disappointed in that.”

Senior Katie Peck added, “Overall it was an amazing season. I

think we made huge achievements with our team, within our team and

within our sport.”

Apart from the NCAA championships, where they will have a few

swimmers competing, the Rams have a tough squad returning next

season, Mattos said.

“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the young ladies

on this team that had a chance to experience (the departing

seniors’) leadership, friendship, commitment and dedication.”