Fresno State Athletics
'Dogs Set for WAC Championships
2/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Feb. 22, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - The Bulldog swimming and diving team will head to San Antonio, Texas this week where they will compete amongst the best that the conference has to offer for the WAC Championship.
The `Dogs ended the regular season on top of their game posting multiple best times within the last three regular season swim meets showing that they are continuing to improve and that they seem to be peaking at the right point of the season.
Fresno State finished off the season at 3-10 overall with a 2-1 home record showing signs of good things to come for a young Bulldog team.
The `Dogs look to build off of their performance from last years WAC Championship appearance where the first-year program finished in ninth place overall. Regular season statistics show that Fresno State should fare well against conference foes as they have 11 events in which they rank in the top 20 in overall WAC times including Heidi Gjoen's second best time in the 200 backstroke event and fourth-best time in the 100 back.
Freshman Dani Yoho should have a strong performance and be a point scoring factor for the `Dogs in the 50 freestyle where her top time ranks fourth overall in the WAC.
The Bulldogs will also look to the breaststroke events and freshman Britney Vogel to produce crucial points. Vogel has swam strong for the `Dogs all season and boasts the second-best time in the WAC in the 100 breaststroke event.
WAC Championship Information
The 2010 WAC Swimming and Diving Championships get underway in San Antonio, Texas, starting Wednesday, Feb. 24th and go through Saturday, Feb. 27th. Over the four days, nine teams including Fresno State, Nevada, Hawai'i, Idaho, the University of San Diego, Northern Arizona, San Jose State, Boise State and New Mexico State will compete for the conference championship at Josh Davis Natatorium. Nevada comes in as the three-time defending champion after winning a tight competition last year by a mere 16 points ahead of second place Northern Arizona.
The championship begins Wednesday with platform diving which will be conducted at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center due to the fact the Josh Davis Natatorium does not have a diving tower. This is the only event that will be conducted outside of San Antonio. Swimming finals also start Wednesday night when both the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays will be swam at Josh Davis Natatorium. Prelims will begin at 11:00 a.m. (CT) Thursday, Friday and Saturday with finals for each days scheduled events will begin at 6:30 p.m.
WAC Announces Plans to Stream Championship Meets Live
Fresno State swimming and diving fans will now have the opportunity to purchase the online live feed from the WAC Championships in San Antonio, Texas.
This year the Western Athletic Conference, in conjunction with its web site partner JumpTV Sports, has announced that it will stream the finals of all four nights of the 2010 WAC Swimming & Diving Championships. Fans can sign up and view more details by visiting www.WAC.tv.
The WAC Championship, which will be held Feb. 24-27, will take place at the Josh Davis Natatorium in San Antonio, Texas. On Wednesday, Feb. 24, there will be finals in two relays, the 200-yard medley and 800 freestyle. Viewers that sign up will be able to watch those two events for free. Full schedules begin Thursday with finals in several events the next three nights. Each of those three nights can be viewed for a subscription of $5.95 or a full championship package can be purchased for $9.95. Finals begin at 6:30 p.m. CT on all four nights.
WAC to Post Live Scoring After Every Event
The WAC announced that they will be feeding live stats to the www.wacsports.com swimming page immediately after every single event. Fans that don't attend the meet or purchase the live streaming feed are encouraged to catch all of the up-to-the minute results that they will be providing.
Recapping the 2008-09 WAC Championships
Last season the `Dogs came into the WAC Championships not knowing what to expect due to the fact that every swimmer and diver was making their first -ever conference meet appearance.
Diver Kendra Weeks posted a score on the 1-meter dive good enough for 16 place giving the Bulldogs their first point at the conference meets. Possibly the greatest highlight of all for the `Dogs at the 2009 conference meet was Heidi Gjoens third place finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:00.65. Her time was good enough to break a nine-year school record and earned the `Dogs a total of 16 championship points.
As a team, the Bulldogs swam strong at the 2009 WAC Championships with every swimmer posting a season-best in their respected events at some point over the four day meet, resulting in a ninth place finish for Fresno State.
`Dogs Show Improvement Against Top WAC Team The Bulldogs swimming and diving team showed that they have what it takes to swim with the best as they took conference rival San Jose State down to the wire before falling 172-122 in what was the last meet of the regular season at Clovis North Aquatic Complex. The loss put the `Dogs at 3-10 on the season with a home record of 2-1.
Fresno State came out looking to avenge a decisive early season defeat in which the Bulldogs fell to the Spartans 176-66 on the opening day of the WAC Shootout.
This time the `Dogs put up much more of a fight winning almost half of the meets events, giving the Spartans a scare and showing that they are poised to compete against any team in the conference.
Luke Qualifies for NCAA Diving Zones
Bulldog freshman diver Stacey Luke became the first Fresno State diver since the return of the program last season, to qualify for NCAA diving zones with her stellar performance in the `Dogs last regular season meet of the year against rivals San Jose State. Luke, from Kenmoor, Wash., had a career best effort against the Spartans dominating both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, recording first place overall finishes in both events.
Luke's 1-meter score of 265.87 will give her the opportunity to represent the `Dogs at the NCAA zones, which is diving's version of postseason play. Luke also scored a career best 279.07 in the 3-meter dive just a shade off of a school record.
"We Are Your Team" - Next up, the Bulldogs swimming and diving team will head to San Antonio, Texas to battle their conference rival in the WAC Championships Feb. 24-27. Check out gobulldogs.com for all your swimming and diving information along with exclusive team blogs.
