CSU swim and dive perseveres at Mountain West Tournament, completes season

Mason Ford, Staff Reporter

February 26, 2025

Katie Flynn swims the 200-yard breaststroke during Colorado State University’s meet against Washington State University at Moby Pool Oct. 18, 2024. WSU won the meet 141.5-120.5.

Following a hard-fought tournament, nine all-conference honors and a program record, Colorado State’s swim team’s season came to an end Feb. 22.

Although the team walked away from the Mountain West Tournament in 7th place with 697 points, the Rams put up some memorable performances and make their mark on the competition.

CSU took control over the 400 IM event in the tournament, with Erin Dawson and Maisy Barbosa placing 1st and 3rd.

Dawson came into the tournament aiming to defend her title from the previous year. She kept it by swimming a time of 4:13:48 in the 400 IM. Dawson also placed 6th in the 500-meter freestyle with a 4:49.90.

In the final event of the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Mia Axelman, Ashlyn Hembree, Dawson and Lexie Trietley swam the fastest time in program history. The remarkable team swam a time of 3:19.67, placing 6th.

Trietley made waves in her premiere event, the 50 free. She swam a 22.70 in the event and placed 4th.

One swimmer who produced a notable tournament performance was sophomore Tess Whineray. She placed 3rd and 5th in the 200 and 100 backstroke events, respectively.

With a time of 1:56.49, Whineray was able to represent CSU on the podium and secure her 3rd and 4th all-conference recognitions of her career.

The tournament was a good learning experience for the younger talent on the team who plan to return in coming years. It also served as a fitting finale for some of the older swimmers on the team.

Maya White, Katie Flynn and Skyler Lyon competed in their final races as Rams during the tournament.

White was a team captain throughout the season, acting as a leader for the swimmers. The distance swimmer competed in some of the most difficult events and showed grit to the end. In the tournament, she placed 4th in the 1650-meter freestyle with a 16:31.87 time. White was not only a leader on the team, but set an example with both her attitude and skill set.

Flynn was also a team leader and captain alongside White. This gifted swimmer swam her final races during the MW Tournament, showing she could give her all until the very end. She competed in breaststroke, butterfly and IM events, acting as a cornerstone member of the team in and out of the pool all season.

Lyon most notably swam a 2:14:83 in the 200 breaststroke and claimed the 5th fastest time in school history for the event. Lyon was a strong asset for the team all season, putting up valuable points in her breaststroke events to help the team secure wins.

Thanks to all the tremendous effort the Rams put into the tournament, they were awarded with a total of nine all-conference honors. Five swimmers were awarded the total of nine honors for CSU.

To obtain an all-conference honor, a swimmer must place within the top eight in an individual event or top three in a relay. Dawson, Whineray, White and Barbosa all received two honors, Trietley received one.

Although the Rams didn’t walk away with 1st place, the team picked up some impressive placements and show off who they are as a team in the tournament. Some swimmers received their final memories in the pool, while others worked on building up their budding legacies.

With so many young stars on the team, the Rams look to improve in the years to come and return to the tournament even stronger next year.

Reach Mason Ford at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @mason_ford2891.

About the Contributor

Cait Mckinzie, Photo Director

Cait Mckinzie is a second-year student double majoring in art and journalism and media communication. She is one of two photo directors for the 2024-25 school year. Despite growing up in Renton, Washington, Mckinzie knew she wanted to go to Colorado State University since middle school. She had only ever been to Colorado twice, but she visited campus once, and that was all it took. At first, there wasn’t much in Fort Collins that Mckinzie was familiar with. But in high school, she was the co-head of visuals for her school newspaper, so she applied to The Collegian as a photographer to get back into a similar environment. Mckinzie was first introduced to photography by her grandfather, who has been a photographer most of his life. After he gifted Mckinzie her first camera in her junior year of high school, she began to take any assignment she could for her high school paper to improve her skills. Of all the memories made in her first year at CSU, most of the interesting ones came from The Collegian. One Halloween drag show assignment, a lot of mentorship and a few months of practice later, Mckinzie found herself being offered the position of photo director for the next academic school year. Mckinzie is excited for another year at The Collegian and aims to continue learning and growing during her time as one of the photo directors.

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