Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
California
Dogs Contend with Cal
11/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 5, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State swimming and diving team headed to Berkeley, Calif., Thursday to face off in a dual meet against the defending NCAA National Champion California Golden Bears.
The Bulldogs fought hard, giving the Golden Bears all they could handle at Spieker Aquatics Complex, before falling short in the end by a score of 166-111. Senior distance swimmer Rebecca Strmiska made her presence felt, digging deep and crushing her old all-time personal best time in the 1000 freestyle by nearly 16 seconds with a time of 11:41.14.
"I was really proud of Rebecca in the 1000 freestyle today," said head swim coach Jeanne Fleck. "It's all about improvement and she gave it her all today."
Freshman swimmer Jen Hicks also broke her all-time personal best by two seconds in the 500 freestyle event posting a time of 5:21.53, good enough for second place against one of Cal's top swimmers.
"Jen was also great today," said Fleck. "She continues to improve every week for us in the 500(freestyle)."
Along with her second place finish in the 500 freestyle, Hicks also finished second in the 200 butterfly event making it an impressive all around day for the swimmer from Cincinnati, Ohio.
"Overall we were very poised today going up against the national champions," said Fleck. "We swam our own races out there and we definitely weren't scared to race them. It was an honor to swim against them and we greatly appreciate Cal for giving us the opportunity to have this great learning experience. We are really looking forward to the Toshiba Classic where we will see Cal and a lot of other high profile teams."
On the diving side, the `Dogs continue to improve and impress as Stacey Luke, Nikki Kohls and Kendra Weeks brought home second, third and fourth place, respectively in both the 1- and 3-meter dive.
The two freshmen, Luke and Kohls, along with senior Weeks have set a trend in the 1- and 3-meter dives as of late making this the second week straight that they have racked up the points for second, third and fourth place.
"Overall all of the divers did very well," said diving coach Taryn Patrick. "Our consistency as of late has been great. We have made progress and we have a lot of good things to look forward too."
Patrick emphasized that with the break coming up the Bulldog divers will be doing more dry land training and focusing on pin pointing their dives in preparation for the last part of the season including the highly anticipated WAC Championships in February.
For complete results click here:
http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-swim/recaps/110509aab.html
"We are Your Team" - The swimming and diving team returns to the pool Friday Nov. 19-21, as the `Dogs compete in the Toshiba Classic. Log on to gobulldogs.com for results.
Players Mentioned
