Last November, Alexis Trietley placed the exclamation point on a scintillating scholastic swimming career, winning the New York State title in the 100 freestyle with a school record time of :50.54.
Nearly eleven months later, perhaps unsurprisingly given the level of domination she displayed in four-plus years at Olean High, which includes over 50 pool and school records, multiple state podium finishes and her NYS crown, that success has immediately carried over to the Division I level.
“Immediately” in its truest sense.
In her two-day collegiate debut, Trietley followed up a fifth-place finish in the 50 freestyle on Oct. 7 with a victory in the 100 freestyle the following day at the Chick-fil-A Invitational hosted by Fresno State.
Her time in the latter? A new personal best of :50.17, which ranks fifth in program history. Trietley also swam the anchor leg on four placing relays and sat just outside of earning points in her third individual event.
Behind her, the Rams hung with some of the best teams in the country, including UCLA and Cal out of the Pac-12. And Trietley, after only her first meet, was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Week.
“Lexi is just a pure racer,” Colorado State coach Christopher Woodard said of Trietley, whose time of :23.11 in the 50 free was ninth-best in CSU annals. “She loves to compete, but most impressive is her ability to sustain a great turnover rate in her races. She can crank her arms real quick.”
A week later, Trietley turned in another notable performance, winning both the 50 and 100 free in a tri-meet sweep of Colorado School of Mines (164-57) and New Mexico State (150-72). Both times — :23.50 in the 50 free and 51:02 in the 100 free — were natatorium records on the School of Mines campus in Golden, Colo.
She and Colorado State will return to action next Friday at the University of Denver.
— Connor Alfieri made an instant impact in his freshman golf season at Division III California University of Pennsylvania.
He then evolved into one of the program’s top performers as a sophomore, competing in all 10 events while improving his scoring average from 77.8 to 76.5 (both of which ranked third on the team) and carding his career-best score of 64 at the Vulcan Invitational.
Now a junior, he’s become Cal U’s best player and leader. Alfieri was the low man, or tied for that spot, in all four of Cal’s fall events, finishing the campaign with team-best average of 74.6 over 10 rounds and three top-20 finishes.
Alfieri carded an even-par 142 (73-69) while tying for 29th place of 121 golfers at Cal U’s home event, the Vulcan Invitational. He then tied for 10th of 79 golfers with a 12-over par 228 at the West Liberty Invitational. He followed that up with one of the best finishes of his career, tying for second among 76 participants with a 4-over par 148 to lead the Vulcans to a tie for second at the Hal Hansen Invitational hosted by Clarion.
Most recently, last Sunday, the former Smethport standout guided Cal to a fifth-place finish of 10 teams at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship, one spot better than where it had finished each of the last two seasons.
Alfieri jumped an impressive nine spots on the individual leaderboard in the third round to finish 12th of 50 golfers with a 12-over 228 (78-78-72). He played the final day at even-par 72, recording five birdies, including three birdies on par fives. He tied for second in the field with 10 birdies over 54 holes and tallied 25 total pars over the three-day event.
Alfieri and Cal U. will pick up their spring season in mid-March.
— In his fourth season with the Division III Findlay (Ohio) football program, Mike Rigerman is again making an impact.
The former Pioneer star and 2018 Big 30 Player of the Year, an all-conference selection in both his sophomore and junior campaigns, has picked up where he left off, totaling 19 receptions for 310 yards — an average of 16.3 yards per catch — both of which rank second on the team, and three touchdowns through the Oilers’ first seven games.
Rigerman’s best outing came in a 52-35 victory over Southwest Baptist, totaling five receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns. He’s helped Findlay to a 3-4 record with four regular season games remaining.
(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing Company group sports editor, can be reached at jbutler@oleantimesherald.com)
