The women’s swimming and diving team was defeated in a close meet against the Colorado State Rams on Wednesday night in the University Recreation Center.The Rams stole the win in the Frogs’ first Mountain West Conference meet with just an 11-point lead.

Head coach Richard Sybesma said overall the Frogs swam well against Colorado State (4-0 in conference meets) and, while he said he expected to win, his team still fought hard.

“It’s not that we lost to a team that’s not on our level,” Sybesma said.

Sybesma said he saw a lot of bright spots from the Frogs.

Jennifer Ferguson, freshman diver, won both the 1- and 3-meter dives. Ferguson said she was pleased with her performance after a poor week of practices.

“Practice this week hasn’t been going very well,” said Ferguson. “I was glad I could pull it together at the meet.”

Ferguson said she knew the meet would be tough and, while she said she felt she could have done better, she said she realized it was still just the beginning of the season.

“I knew I was going to have to step it up a notch,” said Ferguson. “I was diving to compete against myself and beat my time, and I was able to do that.”

The Frogs were led by junior Maribeth Pottenger and senior Erica Tate.

Pottenger, breaststroke and independent medley swimmer, took first place in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes, 21.62 seconds and the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.33.

Tate, sprints, butterfly and freestyle swimmer, took first place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.81 and won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.91. Tate also swam as part of the 400-yard freestyle relay in which the Frogs took first place with a time 3:33.47.

Tate said the meet was close and felt the Frogs swam well.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy meet,” Tate said. “We had to prepare mentally more than physically.”

While the Frogs were not able to defeat Colorado State, Sybesma said he thinks the team gained some experience from the meet.

“It’s a disappointing loss, but it’s something we’ll learn from,” Sybesma said.