COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The race is the most unforgiving in the sport.
A slow reaction off the blocks can't be made up. Neither can a bad turn at the wall. The 50-yard freestyle allows no space to make up even for the slightest of miscalculations. A breath or two is all one can really afford. It dares every swimmer every time to be perfect.
It's a lot to consider. So Kristina Friedrichs doesn't.
"I used to, and I think it made me mess up more," the senior said. "So this year I started after practice every day, I would do a 25 off the blocks into a turn, and I think that really helped me. I don't think I got that much out of it, but mentally, it helped me just not second guess what I was going to throw down at the meet, because I have done a 25 off the blocks after practice every day since the beginning of the season."
She broke out her two best times in the event Thursday at the Mountain West Championships at the Texas A&M Natatorium, hitting a 22.69 in the preliminaries, then dropping a 22.64 in the finals to place fourth in the event. It was her third consecutive appearance in the championship final of the event.
Her time in the morning moved her up a slot to No. 2 all-time in the event at CSU, sitting a notch behind Amy Van Dyken (21.77), which is not bad company, and her finals time secured the spot even more. Both also hit the NCAA 'B' cut qualifying standard.
It was the best finish of the day for the Rams, who needed a boost in the finals after swimming pretty sluggish in the preliminaries. It was a day for bounce backs, whether the Rams liked it or not.
In the instance of freshman diver Lindsay Gizzi, she definitely didn't like her event, but she loved her result.
Her favorite event is the 1-meter, and on Wednesday, the school record holder in the event faltered. By the time she was on the bus, her disappointment was forgotten. It was in the past. What was in her future was the 3-meter, which on the surface doesn't raise her spirits.
"I don't like 3-meter, so it was more I just had to do it. It's something I have to do, and if I make finals then I make finals," she said. "They're all dives I'm comfortable with – ish – for the most part, so it wasn't too bad. I don't like it because I haven't done it that long, and it's higher. I've always done 1-meter, and I just need to figure out 3-meter takeoffs.
"I just had fun. I just treated it like a practice."
She most definitely made finals, scoring a 317.60, which was a personal best for her, qualifying her seventh, with teammate Jozie Meitz placing 21st. Gizzi returned for the evening session raising her game, posting a score of 338.00, which ranks second all time for the Rams.
She smiled the whole time. Before dives, she would look for a happy face – quite often her roommate, Maisy Barbosa. It all just flowed so naturally for something she felt she "had" to do.
Half of her six-dive set resulted in scores of 63.00 or better, the final two dives both better than 67.
No matter where the score ranks her, it still didn't change her mind about the event. She's not sure it will ever change.
"No. I still don't like 3-meter," she said. "It's like a chore. It is fun to rip, but doing the dives, if you can do them well, it's fun. Once you get the hang of them, it's fun, but it's still something I don't like to do."
What did change for the team was results. They missed some opportunities to earn scoring swims in the preliminaries, and before the finals, the captain's gathered the team to remind them they were 14-0 in duals during the season and they needed to come out with that kind of swagger.
The 500 crew did the trick, which is exactly what coach Christopher Woodard wanted to see.
"It's always incumbent upon whoever is in that first heat or that first event, you're setting a tone," he said. "If you falter, it gives people behind you the idea maybe we're not ready for this. When they come in and see Maya White that first heat drop six seconds, it's like, oh, right, I forgot who we are. Let's get back to business.
"I'm glad they did that. Those 500s, having those three girls go right off the bat and all of them push places, points and their times I think set the tone from the rest of the evening."
White won the bonus final in a time of 4:54.62, then Anika Johnson and Emily Chorpening followed up in the consolation finals by placing 11th and 13th, respectively, with Johnson's time of 4:54.07 the eighth-fastest in program history.
It was an immediate boost, and the rest of the team followed suit.
The Rams had three placers in each the 200 individual medley, led by freshmen Maisy Barbosa (17th, 2:04.92) and Katie McClelland (18th, 2:05.26), with senior Kate Meunier 23rd in a time of 2:06.08. After that, Friedrichs put a stamp on the day
To see her personal best fall twice on the day stirred up some definite feelings.
"I definitely think it was emotional. I'm really happy with what I did," she said. "Sometimes I struggle going faster at finals, but I think there's just a different emotion for an individual event as opposed to a relay. Knowing I have the potential for a few more 50 frees to do, I'm just really happy with how it went."
The finals closed with the 400 medley relay, with the quad of Liza Lunina, McClelland, Friedrichs and Hager posting a season-best time of 3:43.75 to place seventh. The Rams sit in fifth place in the team race with 277 points. They have some catching up to do to improve on their standings, but as his team showed him Thursday and at past championship meets, they historically finish well.
"We still have a couple of kids who really haven't touched the water and have their best events still coming," Woodard said. "Traditionally, we're a better team on Friday and Saturday, and we're going to need that."
Friday's preliminary session for swimming begins at 10 a.m. (MT) for five events – 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke – with six finals (including the 200 free relay) starting at 5:30 p.m.
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