CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Washington State swim team found their groove on the final day of the National Invitational Championship hosted by Cleveland State University. The Cougars finished in eighth place, out of 60 teams, after impressive performances across the board, scoring 293 team points, just behind South Carolina.

"The Cougars did great today," said assistant coach Bex Freebairn. "The team had amazing energy on the deck, and it was great to see them cheering each other on in each event. Individually, Taylor and Lauren had stand-out swims to move up from their seed times going into finals.  It was great to see everyone perform for their team and see them work hard for each other."

Sophomore Taylor McCoy had an outstanding performance for the Cougars, placing fourth in the 200 back. McCoy went into finals seeded seventh, and dropped over a second off her time to touch the wall in 1:57.25 – less than a second off the third place finisher from Rice University.

Freshman Lauren Burckel also had an impressive showing on the final day of the NIC. Burckel, a freshman from Albuquerque, N.M. native went into finals seeded tenth with a time of 2:17.44, before dropping over two seconds to secure a fourth-place finish.

Junior Ryan Falk finished in the Top-15 in each of her individual events. Clocking a 16:51.07 in the 1650 free, Falk finished 12th; while a 10:15.28 in the 1000 free was fast enough for 14th place. In the 100 free, Chloe Larson and Keiana Fountaine made it to the finals after outstanding performances in a tough field. Larson clocked a 50.44 for 12th, while Fountaine went 50.91 for 16th.

The 400 free relay team of Chloe Larson, Sophia Balmaceda, Emily Barrier, and Keiana Fountaine worked to a fourth-place finish in the event. The Cougars touched the wall in 3:21.90 – less than a second off of the school record.

The University of Akron won the overall tournament title, posting 637.5 points.