HOUSTON, Texas - The Washington State swim team rewrote the WSU Top-10 All-Time Performance sheet at day two of the Phill Hansel Invitational with a multitude of lifetime bests.
"Today was a really good day for our program," said head coach Matt Leach. "We had a little more structure and I think that everyone benefitted from it. Everybody stepped up and swam really well today. I'm very excited with where this program is going. Not only did we have multiple season-best and lifetime-best times, but we also had multiple Top-10 All-Time Performances. We just kept it rolling through every event. It seemed like everyone was banning together to swim fast."
Freshman Emily Barrier etched her name in Cougar history for the second time this weekend, after leading off the sixth-place 800 free relay with a 1:48.78 in the first 200 of the relay. Barrier's time is the tenth-fastest performance in program history in the 200 free. This comes just one day after she posted a 23.07 in the 50 free for the fifth-fastest time in program history. Barrier also swam a season-best 55.60 in the 100 fly to tie for 10th place.
Freshman Keiana Fountaine continued to be a force for the Cougars, moving up the record books in the 200 free. The Tracy, Calif. native touched the wall in 1:47.30 for second place and the second-fastest time in program history. Fountaine is less than a second off the school record of 1:46.70 set in 2007 by Erin McCleave.
"The 100 breaststroke was the swim of the morning," said Leach. "All three swimmers were Top-10 times. Linnea [Lindberg] went a 1:01.60 for a second-fastest all-time performance and Mackzenie [Duarte] was a 1:01.66 for third. Lauren [Burckel] swam a ninth-fastest as a freshman. We saw some really good swims out of all of our breaststroke group."
The Cougar breaststrokers each etched their names in the all-time performance list. Senior Linnea Lindberg led the way with a 1:01.60 in the 100 breast for fifth place and the second-fastest time in program history. Sophomore Mackenzie Duarte touched the wall in 1:01.66 in the preliminaries to seal a third-place spot in the all-time performance list, before placing eighth in the finals. Freshman Lauren Burckel swam an impressive 1:03.31 in the preliminary round for a ninth-fastest time in program history.
Sophomore Taylor McCoy notched a WSU Top-10 performance in the 400 IM with a 4:20.81. McCoy's time places her sixth on the all-time performance list. The Pullman, Wash. native now owns a top-10 time in three events: 100 and 200 back, and the 400 IM. McCoy also swam the opening leg of the seventh place 200 medley relay team. Alongside teammates Linnea Lindberg, Sophia Balmaceda, and Emily Barrier, the team clocked a season-best 1:43.40. The sophomore backstroker clocked a season-best 56.24 in the preliminary round of the 100 back.
Freshman Sophia Balmaceda posted season-best times in two individual events. The Freemont, Calif. native touched the wall in 56.02 in the preliminary round of the 100 fly and a 57.20 in the preliminary round of the 100 back.
Freshman Payton Bokowy, sophomores Samantha Howell and Maia Petrides, and juniors Ryan Falk each notched season-best times in their respective events. Bokowy touched the wall in 59.01 in the 100 fly preliminaries. Howell clocked a 1:52.21 in the 200 free preliminaries, before placing 24th in the finals.Petrides touched the wall in 1:55.53 in the 200 free preliminaries. Falk clocked an impressive 1:50.51 in the finals of the 200 free, placing 17th.
As a team, the Cougars sit in sixth place with 407.50 points.
"We still have some room to improve going in to tomorrow," said Leach. "I'm just really excited for the energy that we're bringing and I want to continue to focus on team culture. I couldn't be happier with how we swam, and we're going to continue to try and destroy the top-10 performances. All-in-all it was a great day and tomorrow is going to be even better. Go Cougs!"
The Cougars will enter the pool for the final day of the Phill Hansel Invitational Sunday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m.
