Washington State Women Beat San Jose State 119-96

By Adam Love

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 19. THE Washington State University women’s swim team opened its competitive season by claiming victory against San Jose State Friday, 119-96.

The Cougars jumped out to a 75-18 lead after the first five events before cruising to victory, marking the second consecutive year they have defeated the
Spartans.

“The women swam well considering the strength work they are doing in the weight room and the consistently tough training we have thrown at them the last couple
of weeks,” WSU Head Coach Rocco Aceto said. “We paced our races well and tried to race in a technically sound manner. The team worked on their underwaters,
breakouts and turns on their way to well swum races.”

WSU started quickly with a 1-2 finish in the 400 medley relay, led by the team of Andree-Anne LeRoy, Rachel Dong, Lindsay Henahan and Rebecca Cohen. The
quartet recorded a time of 3 minutes, 54.68 seconds, followed by the WSU “B” team in 3:57.45. This helped set the pace for the Cougars to cruise to victory, despite the fact San Jose State scored 32 uncontested points in diving.

Cohen, a junior from Portland, Ore., swam well, claiming victory in two individual events in addition to the one relay. She won the 200 freestyle in a
time of 1:54.68, as well as the 100 freestyle in 53.84.

“The first meet of the season is always exciting,” Cohen said. “This time, it was fun to swim outside in the California sun. I had a strong first day with
two wins and solid times to go with them. I’m looking forward to racing Cal tomorrow and I can't wait to see what the team does. We look sharp this year and are swimming as a strong group. I think we are going to have a wonderful season.”

Junior co-captain Melissa Hubley also looked impressive, grabbing a win in the 200 butterfly with a top-10 NCAA time of 2:03.22. The native of Dartmouth,
Nova Scotia, Canada also placed second in the 400 individual medley.

“I feel very good about how our team performed at the meet,” Hubley said. “The times we swam were right around the times most of us went at the end of last
year, which shows how far ahead we are in our training. This gives us a lot of confidence going into our meet against Cal tomorrow, and we are all looking
forward to some fast swims. I’m happy with my performance as well. The 200 fly time was where I wanted to be, but I still feel that I can swim faster
tomorrow. The meet went very well, especially for being the first time we have swum since at least August or earlier.”

Rachel Dong out of Paramount, Calif. also won two individual events and one relay. The sophomore co-captain claimed victory in both the 400 individual
medley and 200 breaststroke with times of 4:38.01 and 2:24.57, respectively.

“Going into this meet our team was really looking forward to racing,” Dong said. “For most of us, it has been over two months since we've competed. We started the day off well with a 1-2 win in the relay, and that really set the momentum for the rest of the meet. I think we are all looking to swim even faster tomorrow against Cal. I was pretty excited about the 400 IM, which was an eight second drop for me. The 200 breaststroke wasn't exactly where I wanted to be right now, but I'm confident that I can improve in that event immensely. The important thing was it was a win for the team and that is what I wanted.”

Other event winners for Washington State include junior Jill Olson in the 1000 freestyle, sophomore co-captain Taryn Ternent in the 50 freestyle, and
sophomore Katie Byrnes in the 200 backstroke.

Tomorrow Washington State faces the California Golden Bears at noon in Berkeley, Calif. With several Olympians, world and NCAA title holders, and
American and NCAA record holders on its team, Cal will provide a serious challenge for the Cougars.

RESUKTS
Washington State at San Jose State
San Jose, California
(all distances in yards)

TEAM SCORING:
Washington State (WSU) 119
San Jose State (SJSU) 96

400 Medley Relay:
1. WSU (A)-(LeRoy, Dong, Henahan, Cohen) 3:54.68
2. WSU (B)-(Ternent, Swanson, Hubley, Louw) 3:57.45
3. SJSU (A) 3:58.95

1000 Freestyle:
1. Jill Olson (WSU) 10:24.12
2. Brook Wells (SJSU) 10:33.41
3. Sasha Taylor (WSU) 10:46.39

200 Freestyle:
1. Rebecca Cohen (WSU) 1:54.68
2. Semah Zavareh (WSU) 1:56.08
3. Charlotte Pierre (SJSU) 1:56.13

50 Freestyle:
1. Taryn Ternent (WSU) 24.20
2. Lindsay Henahan (WSU) 24.68
3. Christina Swanson (WSU) 24.93

400 Individual Medley:
1. Rachel Dong (WSU) 4:38.01
2. Melissa Hubley (WSU) 4:38.11
3. Katie Byrnes (WSU) 4:42.07

200 Butterfly:
1. Melissa Hubley (WSU) 2:03.22
2. Lindsay Henahan (WSU) 2:09.98
3. Charlotte Pierce (SJSU) 2:13.05

100 Freestyle:
1. Rebecca Cohen (WSU) 53.84
2. Sara Schmied (WSU) 54.85
3. Alana Lella (SJSU) 56.36

200 Backstroke:
1. Katie Byrnes (WSU) 2:08.16
2. Nicole Chinn (WSU) 2:10.37
3. Taryn Ternent (WSU) 2:13.26

500 Freestyle:
**1. Semah Zavareh (WSU) 5:05.37
**2. Jill Olson (WSU) 5:07.15
3. Brook Wells (SJSU) 5:09.15

200 Breaststroke:
**1. Rachel Dong (WSU) 2:24.57
2. Emily Hutson (SJSU) 2:25.80
**3. Andree-Anne LeRoy (WSU) 2:28.82

400 Freestyle Relay:
**1. WSU (A)-(Zavareh, Dunn, Byrnes, Schmied) 3:40.73
2. SJSU (A) 3:45.94

**not scored

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