Swimming and Diving Struggle in Day Two of WAC

Feb. 23, 2001

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The Bulldogs turned in nine lifetime best performances and five new all-time top five times, but hold sixth place at the Western Athletic Conference Championships in San Antonio, Texas Friday.

Dominating the tournament is SMU with 628 points. Hawai'i holds a distant second with 396 with Rice close behind at 356. Strong swimming performances combined with their deep pool of divers puts Nevada at fourth with 311. TCU's 282-point total puts the Horned Toads in an uneasy fifth over the Bulldogs' 221. Sitting in seventh place is San Jose State with 212.

In the first day of competition, senior Summir Case (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) broke her personal best and school record time of :55.99 in the 100 backstroke replacing it with :55.65. Case continued to dominate by breaking the record two more time--she scored a :55.49 in the morning preliminaries and a :55.45 in the finals placing third. That finals time not only gives Case the school record, but it also qualifies her for the NCAA provisional cuts, meaning that she does not get an automatic bid but will have to wait for an invitation.

Also swimming in her final WAC meet of her career, senior Temple Cowden (Redlands, Calif.) also claimed a new school record in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:25.87, good enough for sixth in the meet. Cowden was the first Bulldog to score in the top eight. Strong senior performances were also brought in by Kristi Markiewitz (Tehachapi, Calif.) who scored 14th in the 400 individual medley (4:38.60) and Heidi Olsen who scored 19th in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.47). Both times were lifetime best performances.

The seniors were not the only ones doing the work, some of the younger `Dogs made a heavy impact as well. The sophomore and freshman classes earned three lifetime best performances each. Sophomores Bethany Starkweather (Plano, Texas) finished 11th in the 400 individual medley (4:33.82), Jessica Klenner (Mission Viejo, Calif.) scored a 1:53.87 in her first leadoff of the 800 freestyle relay and Kristi Collins (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) finished 19th in the 100 butterfly (:59.88). Freshmen Chandra Riberich (La Crosse, Wis.) claimed 24th in the 100 butterfly (1:02.22), Greer McGettrick (Studio City, Calif.) grabbed the number 12 spot in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.57) and Julian Hill claimed the number seven spot in the 100 backstroke (:57.63). Both McGettrick's and Hill's times made the all-time top five list as the new number three times in their respective events.

"Our shortage of bodies is starting to hurt us," head coach Daniella Irle said. "There is a point where you can't fake it anymore. We just don't have the numbers that some of these other teams have. Although this hurt us today, there will be a difference tomorrow. All of our strong events are tomorrow, and we are going to do some catching up. We will also have an endurance advantage. Only one or two other schools train with the discipline that we do and that will be a big part of tomorrows competition."

The `Dogs face the final day of the championships tomorrow, Saturday with the finals beginning at 6:30 p.m.

400 IM6   Temple Cowden                 Sr.    4:25.87   *Personal Best and New School Top Time11  Bethany Starkweather          So.    4:33.82   *Personal Best14  Kristi Markiewitz             Sr.    4:38.60   *Personal Best

100 Fly16  Laurel Frisinger              Sr.    :59.0319  Kristi Collins                So.    :59.68     *Personal Best24  Chandra Riberich              Fr.    1:02.22    *Personal Best

200 Free19  Deanna Braun                  So.    1:57.49

100 Breast12  Greer McGettrick              Fr.    1:05.57    *Personal Best, School Third Fastest19  Heidi Olsen                   Sr.    1:08.47    *Personal Best

100 Back3   Summir Case                   Sr.    :55.45     *Personal Best, School Record, NCAA                                                                Provisional Cut Qualifier7   Julian Hill                   Fr.    :57.63     *Personal Best and School Third Fastest16  Laurel Frisinger              Sr.    :59.71

200 Medley Relay5th                         1:46.10Summir CaseGreer McGettrickLaurel FrisingerJesie Lewis

800 Free Relay5th                         7:36.23Jessica KlennerLena DarnellTemple CowdenJennifer Brown

Fresno State Athletics

Swimming and Diving Struggle in Day Two of WAC

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