Swimmers fly into the new season at Fresno
Cougars look to cook up a win at the Chick-fil-a Invite Saturday and Sunday
October 7, 2022
Fresh off a swimmer setting the Gibb Pool record at the Crimson and Gray meet, the WSU swim team looks to take on their first real meet at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Fresno, California. Each swimmer has a promising view of the outcome of the meet.
The meet will be hosted with live updates and even some live streams. As this is the first two-day meet the swimmers have their work cut out for them.
“I’m excited to see the girls from last year you know, when we were there, to this year,” head coach Matt Leach said. “Comparing our intrasquad meet from last year to this year there [were] some amazing and huge changes.”
With record-setting times and huge improvements across the board, the team is bound to make an impact at this year’s invitational.
The Chick-Fil-A Invitational is considered the first true meet of the season and the whole team is enthusiastic to be back in that proper racing environment.
“Fresno, Southern California, so everyone is excited for the sun,” junior swimmer Makayla Poloni said. “It’s just, start of the season is always exciting no matter how many times you’ve done it.”
Many of the family members of the team will be at the meet, seeing as many of the swimmers are from California. Having a good fanbase will boost the morale of a lot of the swimmers.
“I think we’re ready to race, we said this earlier in a practice that this year our team dynamic has been so, like, upbeat. Every single swimmer has been 100 % every single practice, I think we are all ready to go,” Poloni said.
The swimmers are proving to be a tenacious group although the travel may take a toll on them.
The returning swimmers know travel days are hectic, Poloni said. She will try to get within a few seconds of her best times regardless of the travel exhaustion.
Having a good environment is very important to the swim team and will help them swim their hearts out at this upcoming meet.
There are four Mountain West schools and two Pac-12 schools competing at the Invitational, all of which will pose a challenge to the swimmers, Leach said.
