Chloe Larson Heads To 2021 NCAA Championships

Wednesday, March 17

Greensboro, NC

All Day

Washington State University

NCAA Women's Swimming Championships

March 16, 2021 | Swimming

WSU Swimming Preview - NCAA Championships Matt Leach Press Conference 2020-21 Schedule

By: Washington State Athletic Communications

CHLOE LARSON HEADS TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Washington State senior Chloe Larson heads to the 2021 NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C. this week to compete in the 50 and 100 freestyle events. Larson is seeded No. 28 in the 50 free which is scheduled for Thursday while the 100 free is set for Saturday where Larson is seeded No. 39.

HOW TO FOLLOW
The NCAA Championships will be webstreamed on ESPN3 and live results will be available on the swimming schedule page on wsucougars.com.

CHLOE LARSON EARNS TRIP TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Chloe Larson was selected for the 2021 NCAA Championships in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle events, becoming the second Cougar swimmer in the last three seasons to earn a trip to the NCAA's, joining fellow teammate Mackenzie Duarte who earned an invite in 2019. Larson posted a pair of the top NCAA "B" times in the country in both the 50 free (22.16) and 100 free (48.74), and both times came during the Pac-12 Championships.

WSU SETS TEAM RECORD AT PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Washington State closed the final day of the Pac-12 Conference Championships in Houston with another school record and finished with the highest team score in program history. The Cougars tallied 533 points, the most scored in a Pac-10/12 Conference Championship Meet since totaling 793 points at the NorPac Championships in 1985-86. In the four days in Houston, WSU recorded nine Top-10 times including school records in the 50 and 100 free by Chloe Larson.

LARSON MAKES HISTORY AT PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Senior Chloe Larson made history Feb. 25, giving Washington State its first Pac-12 Conference individual champion in program history with a win in the 50 freestyle at the conference championships in Houston. Larson won the final by touching the wall in 22.18, six-hundredths of a second ahead of the three swimmers from UCLA, CAL and USC who all tied for second. In the morning preliminaries, Larson recorded a school-record time of 22.16 in the same event, breaking Cougar legend and Lithuanian Olympian Rugile Mileisyte's previous mark of 22.45 set in 2009. Larson capped her week with a program-record 100 free in the morning preliminaries (49.00) and again in the evening "B" final (48.74).

WSU EARNED CSCAA SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA HONORS
Washington State earned CSCAA Scholar All-America Team Honors after posting a 3.61 GPA in the Fall 2020 semester. The Cougars earned the honor for the ninth straight semester including all five under head coach Matt Leach.

LARSON BREAKS OWN POOL RECORD, WSU BEATS IDAHO ON SENIOR NIGHT
Senior Chloe Larson highlighted an impressive senior night performance for WSU, breaking her own Gibb Pool record in the Cougars' 162-98 victory over Idaho. WSU (4-1) claimed 13 of the 14 races as seniors Mackenzie Duarte (100 breast, 200 breast, 100 IM) and Taylor McCoy (400 IM, 100 back, 200 back) tied for the team-lead with three wins a piece while freshmen Jose Liebzeit and Kiana Swain each posted wins in the 200 free and 200 fly, respectively. Larson, who broke the pool record in the 50 free two weeks ago, surpassed her own mark by .11 and also notched her second NCAA B time of the season while claiming the 50 free. Freshman Hailey Grotte won the 100 free and fellow freshman newcomer Kaya Takashige won the 100 fly. Washington State also won both relay events (400 medley and 200 free relay).

COUGARS POST ROAD VICTORY AT SEATTLE U
Washington State claimed nine races in route to a 161-100 win at Seattle U. The Cougars remained perfect in the all-time series with the Redhawks, posting their ninth straight win against SU. Senior Taylor McCoy recorded a pair of wins in the 200 free and 200 IM to push her season win total to a team-best six. WSU opened with meet with a win in the 200 medley relay, freshman Josie Liebzeit followed with a win in the 1000 free, McCoy added a win in the 200 free and freshman Hailey Grotte won the 100 breast. A pair of underclassmen recorded their first collegiate wins as sophomore Jewel Springer won the 200 fly and freshman Kaya Takashige claimed the 50 free.

COUGARS BATTLE UTAH, LARSON SETS GIBB POOL RECORD
Washington State claimed seven races including a record-setting win by senior Chloe Larson against Utah in the Pac-12 Conference opener. WSU received a pair of wins from Michee Van Rooyen in the 200 Free and 500 Free while Larson posted wins in the 50 Free and 100 Free. Larson, a senior from Rapid City, S.D., put her name atop the Gibb Pool record book with a 22.70 time to win the 50 free, breaking Canadian Olympian Taylor Ruck's mark she set while competing for Stanford in 2018.

COUGARS OPENED SEASON WITH TWO WINS AT IDAHO
Washington State opened the 2020-21 season with a pair of wins at Idaho in November. In the opener, the Cougars recorded seven wins in the 13 events lead by Taylor McCoy's victories in the 200 IM and 400 IM. The following day, WSU recorded wins in all four events as McCoy won the 200 back, Chloe Larson won the 100 free, Mackenzie Duarte won the 200 breast and Mia Zahab ended the meet with a win in the 200 fly.

FOUR COUGS NOTCH OLYMPIC TRIAL TIMES
Mackenzie Duarte ended last winter's 2019 U.S. Open earning an Olympic Trial Cut time in the 200 breast to send her to Omaha. Duarte joined Cougar teammates Taylor McCoy (200 back) and Lauren Burckel (200 breast, 100 breast) who also recorded Olympic Trial cut times during the 2019 summer. The 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trails have been rescheduled for the 2021 summer in Omaha, Neb. Mia Zahab recorded Olympic Trial times for Team Canada in seven events.

KATE MOORE NAMED ASSISTANT COACH
Kate Moore was announced as the Cougars' assistant coach Aug. 21. Moore joined WSU after spending the previous 10 seasons as a member of the East Carolina University Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving coaching staff following a decorated career as a student-athlete at ECU. Moore worked the prior three seasons as ECU's associate head coach, the previous two seasons as the head assistant coach and prior five seasons as an assistant coach. During Moore's time on the staff, the Pirates won four American Athletic Conference titles, sent nine athletes to the NCAA Championships and helped ECU claim 41 individual conference titles and 21 relay championships. A native of Pottstown, Pa., Moore was a four-time all-conference performer, championship finalist and US Open qualifier.

COUGARS INK FIVE TO NLI
Washington State signed five to National Letters of Intent Nov. 13. The Cougars added Noelle Harvey, Sophie Macy, Noelle Marsh, Ilaria Moro and Taylor Schababerle each signed NLI's to join the Cougars next fall.