LARAMIE – The Wyoming swimming & diving team is celebrating the end of a legendary career on the men's side and the beginning of what could be an extraordinary career on the women's side.
 
Gavin Smith, who won the 100- and 200-yard butterfly finals at the WAC championships, represented the Cowboys for the final time at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships last weekend in Ocala, Florida.
 
The senior from Cape Town, South Africa, finished 9^th in the 50-yard butterfly A final and 8^th in the 100-yard butterfly A final at the national meet to close out his collegiate career.
 
"It was definitely something that I wanted and to kind of leave an impact on this university," Smith said of winning two WAC titles. "It was less about winning a gold medal and more about not giving up, just swimming all the way until the end. I did that and got lucky enough to win. They recruit people to win conference championships. Going to NCAAs is a bonus, but you swim here every day to win a (WAC) gold medal. To finish like that was very special."
 
Macey Hansen will represent the Cowgirls at the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships this Wednesday through Friday in Federal Way, Wash.
 
The freshman phenom from Columbia, Mo., qualified in the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle. Hansen shattered the school records while winning Mountain West championships in both the 500 (4:41.56) and 1,650 (16:07.75) events.
 
"It was really overwhelming. I was surprised the whole time," Hansen said of becoming the first UW swimmer to qualify for the NCAAs since 2017. "I just looked at my team (after the 500 final) and everyone was there (cheering). Going up to the podium was kind of surreal, accepting that it happened. I didn't believe it at first."
 
'It's not about what happens to you, it's how you deal with it'
 
Smith was being recruited by several Division II programs when he was in high school, but those opportunities were lost during the pandemic. His family moved to London in January of 2021, and he decided to try one more time to get on someone's recruiting radar in the United States.
 
Then an email reply from UW arrived in Smith's inbox with the subject – Hi Gavin, heard you are looking for a college home.
 
"I was like, wow, I've spoken to a lot of universities, and no one has talked about this being a home for four years," Smith said. "I will never forget reading that and thinking that's something that I want. I didn't know what Wyoming was, had never heard that name before."
 
Smith spoke with UW head coach Dave Denniston a week later and was invited to join the team that August. His legendary career had an inauspicious start at 7,220 feet.
 
"Awful," Smith said when asked about his first practice at UW. "The first six weeks here I probably put up the worst six weeks any athlete has ever done at this university. I was coming off the lockdown in England and didn't have access to pools. I was swimming in the ocean a little bit.
 
"I'll never forget we had a Saturday morning practice. We lifted before, and I had never lifted before, and my arms were absolutely dead. I had to completely slug my way through this practice."
 
After thousands of hours in the pool and four years of competition, the hard work paid off for Smith at the recent WAC championships in Houston when he won the 100 butterfly in 46.45 and the 200 butterfly in 1:43.96.
 
Denniston inspired Smith before his first final. He returned the favor with an inspirational performance before the second final.
 
"Dave gave us quite an impactful speech about being a winner before the session. He mentioned me just owning the 100 fly the whole season. I was like, yeah, I have owned the 100 fly and I'm going to own it in this last race," Smith said. "That (200) was insane. I knew I had done the work for it but going into conference there were two guys ahead of me and one guy behind me I knew was going to improve. It felt like I was going in around fourth. …
 
"But we did a time trial the Saturday before that and broke the pool record here. When I did that, I was like, wow, I definitely have it in me to do something special."
 
During the 2024 WAC championships, Smith finished second in the 100 butterfly and third in the 200 butterfly as the program mourned the tragic loss of Charlie Clark, Luke Slabber and Carson Muir.
 
Smith and Slabber were close friends competing together in South Africa. The childhood bond only grew as both made their way from Cape Town to Laramie and became teammates with the Cowboys.
 
"I obviously had a very rough meet," said Smith, who will graduate from UW in May with a finance degree. "I still had put in the work to swim fast and I remember swimming the 200 fly final last year and feeling Luke with me. I don't know what it is, but I definitely felt like there was something there. I felt that this whole year and that gave me motivation to swim fast and be proud of what I'm doing.
 
"Finishing that race, seeing my friends, knowing what my friends have been through, what I've been through and kind of having something to celebrate, you start tearing up instantly. Especially with Dave, he's gone through it with all of us. You hate to see things like that happen but it's not about what happens to you, it's how you deal with it. I truly do believe that."
 
'The perfect mile, the perfect race'
 
Hansen was recruited by UW associate head coach Kristin Walker during her stellar prep career when as she earned two-time All-American honors while setting the Missouri state record in the 500 freestyle.
 
"I loved talking to Kristin about the program and altitude training," Hansen said. "Laramie is the cutest thing ever and the campus is so pretty. When I went on my official visit it kind of just sealed the deal for me."
 
Hansen said she felt some pressure going into the 1,650 freestyle (mile) final as the top seed. Denniston told her she would have to go 16:11 to make the NCAA championships, which would be about an 11-second improvement from her altitude converted fastest time of the season.
 
"I'd have to drop a decent amount of time, but I knew what pace I had to go. When we were warming up and doing the pace I was on it and it felt good," Hansen said. "We've worked so hard together this season, and he has put me there, given me the stepping stones. After I got out of the pool and my teammates gave me a hug and then Kristin gave me a hug. Then Dave gave me a hug and was like, 'I'm so proud of you. That was the perfect mile, the perfect race, you just did as good as I could have imagined.' He was really happy with it."
 
Hansen is the first swimmer to qualify for the NCAAs during the Denniston era.
 
"If you would have told me in the summer I was going to NCAAs, I probably wouldn't have believed you," Hansen said. "I'm just kind of going into it like we'll see what happens. If I swim faster that's awesome. Obviously, I always want to swim faster, but I just want to go for the experience and I'm super excited."
 
If you are interested in learning more about NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) or would like to support our student-athletes, please visit 1wyo.org. 1WYO was created out of Wyoming's culture of neighbor helping neighbor. The mission is to promote and strengthen local charitable organizations and develop Wyoming student athletes. 
 
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