Gizzi Opens Hansel Invite with 1-Meter Victory

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HOUSTON, Texas – At the first invitational of the season, a team wants to come out and make a statement.

Freshman Lindsay Gizzi helped Colorado State women's swimming and diving made a grand one, as she won the 1-meter springboard in her first major collegiate invitational, scoring a 291.70, just off her career best which already stands as one of the top-five performances in program history.

Behind a strong showing for the distance crew – with another pair of freshmen posting top-five swims in program history in the 500-yard freestyle -- Colorado State finished the day fourth in the standings in the nine-team field with 267 points. San Diego State leads at 467, with two Texas schools (Houston, 407) and Rice (317) between them.

"The energy they brought in the first session, they capped off tonight. I was impressed," CSU head coach Christopher Woodard said. "Effort is always a given, we expect that, but the attitude and execution at this point are really what we're looking for."

Gizzi came out of the preliminary session in fourth, but improved by 9.5 points in the finals to clip Chase Farris of host Houston, who was seeded first after prelims and finished at 291.25 and was followed in the next four spots by teammates.

"She had a solid performance; just a super-exciting athlete to watch," CSU diving coach Chris Bergere said. "I thought she dove better in the finals, just a little bit more consistent. She hit a couple of dives, but I can still see improvement, I think 30 points. She hit a lot of 7s, and I can see 8s. There's a lot of pressure finals, but she doesn't think about it. She told me she wants to win."

The Rams had two other divers place, as Jozie Meitz improved seven spots from the prelims to win the consolation final with a score of 264.20, while Jessica Albanna placed 21^st at 235.40.

The swimming finals started with the 200-yard freestyle relay, where the Rams' grouping of Sarah Mundy, Megan Hager, Anika Johnson and Kristina Friedrichs dropped 1.44 seconds off their seed time to place fifth. The 500 freestyle followed, an event where CSU loaded up with seven scoring swims.

Freshman Maya White paved the way for the group, placing sixth overall in a time of 4:52.01, dropping 11.2 seconds off her seed time (which was altitude adjusted). She swam a 4:52.32 in the morning session – the second-best swim in program history in the event, then lowered her time in the finals. Fellow freshman, Emily Chorpening, led the 'B' final group, taking 11th. Her 4:54.84 in the morning was just outside the top five, but her 4:52.14 now has her third behind White. In, the 'B' final, Johnson was 14^th and Mundy 16^th,while Abbey Owenby (20^th), Olivia LeBlanc (22^nd) and Madison Hunter (24^th) all added to the CSU point total in the 'C' final.

"Maya just continues to impress us with her fight at the end of races," Woodard said. "It's just really impressive, and I think Emily Chorpening really had a breakthrough today, and both of them go into the top five. I think it's a credit to assistant coach Lisa Ginder that we've got combined seven girls under 5:00 right now. Depth is crucial, but we'll continue to push that mark. We don't want to be in the bonus heat; we're working for finals showings."

The team's second individual championship finalist in the lanes was senior Kristina Friedrichs, who placed fifth in the 50 free with a 22.96. Mundy placed 15^th in the 'B' final. The duo came back a race later for the final event, the 400 medley relay, joining Liza Lunina and Katie McClelland to place sixth in a time of 3:45.26, an 8.34-second drop.

Relays are the one place where Woodard saw some rust, particularly on starts, but in some ways, that's expected as the team has been away from Moby Pool while a pump is being repaired, and the 30-meter facility at the Morris Fieldhouse does not have starting blocks.

"We definitely made improvements. We're definitely rusty, and hit showed on our starts and turns; that was noticeable," he said. "Certainly when we get back in Moby when we get back from the break, certainly there's a lot of work to be done there. What do they say? It takes three to five weeks to create a habit. Unfortunately, we've been out of our pool for about five weeks, so we've created some bad habits. We'll have to get back on track when we get back."

The Rams had two additional placers in the 200 individual medley – both freshmen -- as Maisy Barbosa placed 18^th and McClelland 23^rd.

Barbosa, like many on her team, dropped more than 2 seconds from her prelims in the finals. The time drops are always nice, but in some instances, it's a reminder to a swimmer there's more in the tank to be used in the morning to set themselves up for better placings at night.

"Our freshmen continue to be able to handle the pressure, have fun and continue to show up in the big moments," Woodard said. "I said I'm probably going to spend the next three years yelling at Barbosa to get her rear in gear in the morning, but the bottom line is if you can drop what she dropped at night and start to gain confidence, that's huge. I'll take a 2:03 in the IM. That's good."

With two more days of competition remaining – prelims begin at 9 a.m. MT both days, finals for 5 and 2 p.m., on Friday and Saturday, respectively -- Woodard will be looking at how his team closes out the event.

"We always talk about rest and recovery is crucial," Woodard said. "Day one, there's a lot of emotions and everybody is ready to race. Day two and day three tell you who's put in the work prior to this and who is really serious, who is in the moment."

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