Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
at WAC Championship
Bulldogs in Sixth Place at WAC Swimming and Diving Championships
2/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 25, 2004
SAN ANTONIO - The 2004 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships began today with Hawai'i and SMU splitting the 200-yard medley and the 800-yard freestyle relays. Defending champion SMU captured the 800-yard freestyle relay, while Hawai'i took first in the 200 medley.
The Hawai'i team of YingJuan Zhen, Katie Clewett, Nicole Mackey and Dena Quick took first in the 200-yard individual medley relay with a time of 1:41.51. SMU finished second, touching the pad with a time of 1:42.35, followed by Nevada with a time of 1:44.64. Rice finished fourth, followed by San Jose State and Fresno State, respectively. The Bulldogs' quartet of freshman Marisa Mathews, sophomore Sarah Batchelor and juniors Jennifer Palmberg and Melissa Johnson swam the event in a team season best time of 1:50.84. It was only the second time that SMU did not take first in the 200-yard IM relay since the Mustangs joined the league in 1997. In 2000, the Rainbow Wahine also captured first place.
In the only other race of day one, the SMU team of Georgina Lee, Celina Lemmen, Marizanne Grundlingh and Michelle Vlasacova gave the Mustangs their first win of the championship. The Mustangs won with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 7:11.34. Lee swam a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:45.52 for the 200-yard freestyle in the leadoff leg of the relay. Hawai'i finished in second with a time of 7:20.63, beating its season-best by just under 15 seconds. Rice finished third, followed by Nevada, San Jose State and Fresno State. The Bulldogs' team of Johnson, junior Kristin Leon and sophomores Dana Shaw and Lindsay Palmberg turned in a team season best time of 7:51.73.
After one day of competition, Hawai'i and SMU are tied for the lead with 74 points. Rice and Nevada are tied for third with 62 points. San Jose State is fifth with 56 points followed by Fresno State with 52 points. Action continues tomorrow at Palo Alto College Natatorium in San Antonio, Texas at 11:00 a.m. with the preliminaries and at 6:30 p.m. for the finals of the 500-yard freestyle.
