FRESNO, Calif. (October 6, 2023) – Washington State Swimming opened the season with an impressive opening day at the Fresno State Invite highlighted by a win in the 800 free relay Friday afternoon.
 
The Cougars sit third with 447 points and 37 points San Diego State for second through 12 events while UCLA holds the lead. WSU closed the opening day with a win in the 800 free relay as Mira Szimcsak, Dori Hathazi, Angela Di Palo and Madison Parker posted the win five nearly five seconds ahead of the second-place team. Washington State's "B" relay of Sam Krew, Kirsten de Goede, Hailey Grotte and Noelle Harvey placed third.
 
"Our energy was solid throughout all three sessions and we knew that we had to get out to a pretty good start in the first session and we did exactly that. I was excited to see a lot of our newcomers adapt, compete and swim aggressively throughout the day," Head Coach Matt Leach said. "We really stepped up in the evening and that had everybody on deck excited, the tempo really picked up and some really good times followed."
 
In the morning session, the Cougars dominated the 500 free, claiming four of the top six spots led by sophomore Dori Hathazi who earned WSU's first win of the season. Freshman Ariel Wang was the top finisher in the 200 IM, finishing seventh while fellow freshman Madison Parker finished eighth in the 50 free.
 
In the afternoon session, Hathazi placed second in the 100 fly while newcomer Sam Krew finished ninth in the same event. In the 400 IM, Wang finished fifth while senior Jewel Springer placed seventh. In the 200 free, WSU again pushed the pace as four Cougars finished among the top eight led by Parker and Angela Di Palo who finished third and fourth, respectively. In the 100 back, sophomore Anna Rauchholz paced the Cougars with a fifth-place finish before the 800 free relay closed out the day with a win.
 
"It was great to see our "A" relay team close the day with a win but it was also great to see our "B" relay finish third. It was a solid first day, we sit third even with the other schools counting diving and if we took the diving points away, we would be sitting second behind UCLA." Leach added. "We are already looking forward to being back in the water for the final session tomorrow with even more energy and aiming to post even faster times."