After a successful meet against the Trojans, the WSU swimmers have been refining their skills. The Cougars walked away from their first meet of 2024 with a 133.5 to 104.5-point loss. They showed a strong fight against the number four team on the national standings.

“Obviously last week, we reflected on it. We had some hits, some misses, some kind of figuring out where people are at regarding training and what they need,” head  coach Matt Leach said. “All in all coming back from a two-month hiatus from racing it was solid.”

Leach said bringing the Utah meet to the home turf for the first time in the past couple of years should bring back the advantage to the swimmers and turn the score in their favor.

“We have really kind of pinned our ears back from last year, going to Utah and having them come out firing in a dual meet against them, but then obviously when it matters at the end of the season we are performing better than them,” Leach said.

This upcoming meet is not only a chance to prove their strength against Utah but also to prepare and fine-tune their skills for the Pac-12 conference and the NCAA championships at the end of the season. With only two meets left before those big competitions the time to finalize their skills is here and ready.

“Right now it is still maintaining the intensity that we need but fine-tuning starts turns breakouts, all those little thing details that help us swim at a faster rate will ultimately put us in the right place at Pacs and NCAAs,” Leach said.

Freshman Ariel Wang reached a speedy first-place win at the meet against Southern California and is making sure to put her best foot forward for these upcoming meets.

“I was so tired before because we didn’t really take a taper or a rest for that [meet] but I am so happy about my race,” Wang said.

Despite a first-place win, Wang is still finding the little details in her swimming to improve on to make her just that much faster.

“I feel like my breaststroke really needs to improve,” Wang said. “I look at my split and my breaststroke is very obviously slower than other swimmers and even other strokes of my own.”

Just as many of the other swimmers do Wang is taking the initiative to improve where she can. According to Wang, she does core workouts in her dorm every day to improve on her weaker strokes and smooth out her stronger swims.

The Utah swimmers will swim against the Cougars 5 p.m. Friday at Gibb Pool.