Wyoming Women Beat CSU for First Time in Rams Pool

LARAMIE, WY, February 5. THE University of Wyoming women’s swimming and diving team beat Colorado State for the first time ever in Fort Collins, Friday night, per UW accounts.

The win is only the second win over CSU in Wyoming history, joining the 2000 classic when the Cowgirls beat the Rams 122-121 in Laramie.

With the 1-meter diving event to be held tomorrow, the Cowgirls built
an insurmountable 124-100 lead tonight. The 1-meter board will be
held tomorrow at the Air Force Diving Invite and the final score will
be updated following tomorrow’s competition.

The Cowgirls (4-4 overall, 3-3 Mountain West Conference), won eight
of 12 events including both the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle
relay in tonight’s dual.

The Cowgirls started the dual off with a bang as freshman Rachel Leyes, sophomore Erin Spadinger, sophomore Heidi Thorson and freshman Haley Bonin won the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:48.37.

Individually, Lehnertz led the way for the Cowgirls as she won both the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. She swam to a time of 1:55.81 in the 200 and 53.41 in the 100. She concluded her night as a member of the first place 200 freestyle relay team. I that relay, Thorson, Bonin, Lehnertz and junior Kenzie Kotby swam to a first place time of 1:37.10.

Other individual first place finishes for the Cowgirls came from sophomore Lauren Beard in the 200 IM (2:10.37), Thorson in the 100 butterfly (58.58), sophomore Lindsey Russenberger in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.22) and freshman Ginni van Katwijk on the 3-metrer diving board (440.65).

The divers scores were added to the dual from today’s Air Force Diving Invite in Colorado Springs, Colo. There, van Katwijk’s score gave her a third place finish in the invite. Freshman Brittany Wainwright finished sixth (401.75) and sophomore Saara Haapanen finished seventh (396.35).

“This is the first time we have ever beaten CSU in their pool and I
couldn’t be prouder of our kids,” said UW head coach Tom Johnson.
“To come in here and win both relays in their pool and pick up the
other huge events that we did makes this a sweet, historical victory
for Wyoming swimming and diving. Tonight, everything is right in the
Cowboy Nation.

“It was a very close meet and our girls raced extremely hard.
Tamara swam great in the 100 and 200 freestyles, Lauren was awesome in
the 200 IM, Lindsey swam very tough in the breaststroke, Heidi swam a
great 100 fly and it is great to see Ginni come in and get a big score
on the 3-meter board.”

The Cowboy divers also competed in the Air Force Diving Invite today
as they claimed the top-three spots in the 3-meter competition.
Senior Adam Miller led the way for the Pokes as he won the event with
a score of 495.50. Sophomore John Lynch finished second (470.00) and
sophomore Kevin Bretting finished third (456.65).

The Cowgirls will join the Cowboys tomorrow as both teams travel to
Colorado Springs to take on Air Force and close out the MWC dual
portion of the schedule. The dual is set to begin at 1 p.m. The
divers will conclude their competition in the Air Force Diving Invite
tomorrow as well, as they compete in the 1-meter and platform events.

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