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.”
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