PUEBLO, Colo. (Oct. 9, 2021) – The Colorado State University Pueblo swimming and diving team split 1-1 in its tri-dual meet Saturday afternoon as the ThunderWolves picked up a 159-54 win over Adams State University and fell to Western Colorado University 120-107. 
 
Western Colorado took the first two events of the day in the three-meter dive and the 400-yard medley relay.
 
In the 400-medley relay, the ThunderWolves were led by the team of McKenna Hauber, Kristen Wolf, Alyssa Basaldua, and Julia Whitfield as the combination finished with a 4:17.46 time. 
 
Katy Zimmerman highlighted the 1000-yard freestyle event with a final wall-touch of 11:04.04 to clinch her first first-place finish of the 2021-22 season. The Pack took the second-place slot as well with Alyssa Grunloh's 11:40.71 final time. Melissa Braddock and Kristina Copeland rounded out the grueling race for the Pack, placing fourth and fifth off times of 12:04.35 and 12:17.48, respectively.
 
The 50 free saw more CSU Pueblo first-place domination. Basaldua took her first season gold with a 25.75-second finish. Whitfield placed fifth off a final time of 26.83 seconds. Markina Evdokimoff and Kayla Chavez rounded off the efforts with times of 28.40 and 29.83, respectively.
 
Wolf clinched her first win of the season in the 100-breaststroke off a 1:10.88 effort. Kate Miller finished just two seconds behind Wolf in third place off a 1:12.65 final time. Bristyn Croswhite finished the race in 1:19.28 as Shion Ienaga touched the wall in 1:22.73.
 
Zimmerman re-entered the pool for the 200-freestyle and did not disappoint. Zimmerman clinched her second win of the afternoon with a 2:03.09 final time in the shorter freestyle race. Hauber made the podium off a 2:05.01 finish as Gia Genova placed fourth in 2:07.41. Whitfield rounded out the efforts with a 2:12.72 race.
 
At the halfway point, Lauren Smart clinched her first diving gold of the season. Smart scored a 216.60 in the one-meter diving competition. 
 
In the 200-yard Individual Medley, Wolf clinched another first-place finish off a 2:20.37 final time, as she just inched out the Adams State challenger by a half-second. Hauber placed fourth with a 2:22.81 final time while Croswhite touched the wall in 2:27.76 and Miller in 2:30.25.
 
Next in the 100-yard freestyle, Basaldua placed second, just nine-hundredths behind the winner off a 56.71 final time. Whitfield placed seventh with a 58.94 finish as Evdokimoff touched the wall in 1:01.53 and Ienaga finished in 1:06.76.
 
In the final endurance race of the day, Zimmerman once again showed up to race. The distance swimmer raced her way to victory in 5:24.92. Zimmerman's time was nearly 16 seconds faster than the next-best finisher. Genova found her way on the podium off a 4:40.85 finish, just.84 seconds behind second-place. Braddock clinched fourth off a 5:53.12 time, as Copeland finished seventh in 6:01.77.
 
The final individual event of the day saw another gold for the Pack in the 100-buterrfly. Grunloh clinched the win in 1:02.19. Nalani Wess placed next for the ThunderWolves in 1:06.84 on her way to seventh. Hauber and Evdokimoff rounded out the butterfly performance placing eighth and ninth in 1:07.85 and 1:11.89, respectively.
 
Western and CSU Pueblo were tied heading into the final event of the day following the eight first-place finishes from the Pack and consistency from the Mountaineers. Unfortunately for the Pack, the 400-yard freestyle relay saw a third-place finish behind two Western teams.
 
Zimmerman, Genova, Basaldua, and Grunloh tried to make a surge in the final 100 yards, but the Mountaineers held off the push as the Pack relay team finished third in 3:52.97. The second team of Croswhite, Braddock, Chavez, and Wess placed seventh-place in 4:13.17.
 
The Pack narrowly fell to Western by 13 points in part to the final event of the day. Despite the loss, CSU Pueblo clinched the dominating victory over Adams State 159-54.
 
The ThunderWolves will have a long break before their next competition on Nov. 5 as they face down the UNK Invitational at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.