SEATTLE - Going into last season, the Washington State University women's swim team had never defeated the Washington Huskies. After tonight, the Cougars have two consecutive wins over their intrastate rival.

The WSU women's swim team, now 5-1 this season, defeated intrastate and Pacific-10 Conference rival Washington by a score of 132-130 at Husky Pool, Friday. This marks the second consecutive year the Cougars have defeated the Huskies, and the first ever in Seattle.

The meet came down to the final event of the night, the 400 freestyle relay, with Washington State trailing Washington 119-126. WSU teams placed first and third in the event giving the Cougars the two-point win over the Huskies.

The Washington State team of Taryn Ternent, Melissa Hubley, Rachel Dong, and Andree-Anne LeRoy won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:28.71, currently the 19th best time in the nation. A Cougar team of Rebecca Cohen, Christina Swanson, Katie Byrnes, and Sara Schmied touched in third at 3:33.91 giving WSU the two points it needed to win the meet.

"I don't know how to describe my feelings right now," WSU Head Coach Rocco Aceto said. "On that last relay, all fans from both universities were showing their sportsmanship and cheering on their teams. We have a saying called Cougar Pride, and I feel that our alumni, parents, everyone in the athletic department, all the students, and community of Pullman were all there in spirit to support us. This is a huge victory for us, and sets us up for a very fun and interesting World Cup next week in Edmonton. The stranglehold that the Huskies have had on the Cougars at this pool dates back three decades, and it feels just unbelievable."

WSU's 200 medley relay team clocked a time of 1:44.76, currently the seventh fastest time in the nation. The team of Nicole Chinn, Rachel Dong, Lindsay Henahan, and Taryn Ternent won the event to give the Cougars an early lead. Washington State's second 200 medley relay team of Katie Byrnes, Christina Swanson, Melissa Hubley, and Sara Schmied, placed third in 1:46.65, currently ranking No. 19 nationally.

Melissa Hubley claimed victory in two individual events, with a pair of nationally ranked times. The junior from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada recorded time of 2:02.24 in the 200 butterfly and 56.66 in the 100 butterfly, which rank No. 13 and No. 25 in the nation, respectively. Her time in the 200 butterfly is also an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

"I feel great about my swims today," Hubley said. "Last year, I wasn't able to hit these times until February, so to be swimming this fast before December feels very good. The team feeling is almost indescribable. The meet was so close, coming down to the last relay, and we just wanted the win a lot. Going into the last break, we talked about what we needed to do and knew we could do it, so we just went for it."

Katie Byrnes, a sophomore form Fort Lauderdale, Fla., won the 200 backstroke for the Cougars. Her time of 2:03.25 moves her into fourth place on the school's all-time list for the event, one spot ahead of Sasha Taylor.

"In the 200 back I wasn't really thinking about my time, I was just concentrating on getting the win and picking up the points we needed," Byrnes said. "This is so awesome. They hadn't been beaten here for such a long time, and to be able to step just feels amazing."

Other event winners for WSU include junior Rebecca Cohen in the 500 freestyle and sophomore Andree-Anne LeRoy in the 200 individual medley.

Select WSU swimmers will compete next at the World Cup II in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Nov. 23-24. Cougar swimmers Melissa Hubley, Taryn Ternent, Rachel Dong, and Katie Byrnes will compete against some of the top swimmers in the World.

The next action for the entire Washington State swim team will be Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Arkansas Invitational.