Stanford swims past Cougs

Swim falls short against defending champions in Gibb Pool

Senior+Rachel+Thompson+races+freestyle+during+the+WSU+vs.+Arizona+swim+meet+Oct.+14%2C+2017+in+Gibb+Pool.+

RYAN PUGH | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE

Senior Rachel Thompson races freestyle during the WSU vs. Arizona swim meet Oct. 14, 2017 in Gibb Pool.

Ty Eklund, Evergreen reporter

WSU women’s swim competed at home in Gibb Pool for the first time this season against No. 1 Stanford University.

The last time the Cardinal visited was in 2015, when Stanford won 149-119. The match Friday was similar as the Cardinal won 169 to 86.

Of the top 10 individual-scoring athletes from the combined teams, Stanford had eight of those slots. The highest-scoring WSU swimmer was sophomore Taylor McCoy with 10 points. Placing as the highest-scoring individual for Stanford was a three-way tie for 18 points a piece between sophomore Lauren Pitzer, freshman Lucie Nordmann and freshman Taylor Ruck.

Both teams competed in a total of 14 races, in which Stanford took first in every single event.

Racing times also hit the Cougs hard. In the 1000-yard freestyle, the closest WSU came was 22 seconds behind the top-three placing Stanford swimmers.

In the 200-yard backstroke the closest WSU got was seven seconds behind Stanford junior Erin Voss. A heavier hit came in the 500-yard freestyle, which saw WSU’s closest contender junior Ryan Falk lose by 15 seconds to Pitzer.

The Cougars came close to taking first place in a couple events, but the overall matchup was too much for them to catch up to Stanford.

“We’re a little bit under-gunned but we’re going to keep working on that every day,”  WSU Head Coach Matt Leach said. “From start to finish it was just a learning curve for our program and I hope next time we get in on Sunday against Boise State we can show just a little bit better improvement.”

After the loss at home, WSU is now 1-1 to Stanford’s 2-0. Despite the loss, the Cougs will be taking a couple deep breaths and hosting again at 10 a.m. Sunday against the Boise State University Broncos.