Artistic Swimming | 1/29/2023 5:04:00 PM

DENTON, Texas (Jan. 29, 2023) – Upbeat music, incredible skills and joyous smiles – all three of these and more were evident on Saturday afternoon in the Pioneer Hall Pool, as the Texas Woman's artistic swimming team opened their season against Wheaton College on Saturday, Jan. 28.
 
The Pioneers, who finished fourth at U.S. Collegiate Nationals in 2022, began their season on a strong note against Wheaton. TWU finished the meet with an overall score of 77.0 to win the meet, over Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent Wheaton's final score of a 63.0.
 
TWU debuted all of their routines on Saturday, although not all in their entirety, they showcased amazing talent from their second-year team.
 
The meet opened with trios, and TWU swam two trio routines.
 
The trio of Makayla Crichton, Haiden Long and Kimberly Poitras started off the meet with a Welcome to the Jungle routine, which scored a meet high 72.1000. Placing second at the meet, the trio of Maribella Falconer, Candela Fidalgo Garcia and Ashley Latchford swam to Man with a Hex and flexed some New Orleans flair to score a 71.3000.
 
Moving onto duets, Falconer and Poitras swam the lone duet for the Pioneers, showcasing an Illusions theme to score a 72.6667 to place first in duets.
 
Latchford built upon her revamped solo routine from last season to Billie Eillish's idontwannabeyouanymore. Latchford started off the season strong with a 74.6667 to place first in the solo category.
 
Lighting up the pool with their dragon routine, TWU set a new program-high team score of a 77.6000, breaking their former mark of a 77.4500 from U.S. Collegiate Nationals on March 27, 2022.
 
"The athletes put in solid swims at our season opener," TWU Head Coach Sara Lilly said.  "We are a young team with athletes from differing backgrounds, so we wanted to see how each athlete and routine would handle the pressure of a collegiate competition.  The athletes did fantastic and had solid swims in each routine.  We have some work to do, but we are very happy with the feedback we received and the performances for this point in the season."
 
The Pioneers will go on the road for their next meet, competing at Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 4.