WSU reaps rewards of offseason training in win over OSU
The WSU women’s swimming team defeated the Oregon State Beavers to improve its record to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in Pac-12 play.
January 23, 2017
The WSU women’s swimming team kicked off its spring season with a victory over Oregon State on Friday in Corvallis.
Coming off a two-month layoff from competition, the team showed no signs of rust in its 170-87 win over the Beavers at the Osborn Aquatic Center.
WSU began the meet by taking first and second place in the 400-yard medley relay and followed that with wins in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle.
In her first win of the season, Jessica Marston, WSU junior and New Zealand native, finished with a time of 10:40.47 in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Marston finished 30 seconds ahead of OSU junior Emma Osowski who took second place with a time of 11:11.67.
The Cougars’ momentum continued as the team scored 13 points in the 200-yard freestyle. Junior Rachel Thompson took first with a final time of 1:53.51 while senior Elise Locke followed her teammate in second place at 1:55.87.
Head Coach Tom Jager said in a WSU news release that the team had a great meet with “great senior leadership” from Addisynn Bursch and Kendra Griffin.
In a tight race, Burcsh won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.41 seconds to edge out OSU senior Andrea Young, who finished in 24.44 seconds. Burcsh also won the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley (IM) in times of 51.95 seconds and 2:03.75 respectively.
Griffin won both the 200-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle and scored a total of 18 points for the meet.
Jager said that because the team had not competed since Nov. 20 and endured the “long part of the season,” the team refined its offseason training leading up to the meet.
Over winter break, the team traveled to Florida to train for the fourth consecutive year.
“I’m really proud of what my kids did,” Jager said. “They got in shape and worked really hard.”
The win over the Beavers puts the team’s record at 3-3 overall and 2-3 in Pac-12 play. The Cougars return to Gibb Pool on Feb. 11 for a meet against Utah.
“We are looking forward to getting back home and swimming in Gibb Pool,” Jager said in the news release.
