Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
WAC Championships
'Dogs Rally to Finish Eighth
2/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 27, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State swimming and diving team put up a strong team effort with multiple swimmers posting season best efforts in the final day of the 2010 WAC Championships in San Antonio, Texas. The Bulldogs final day performance was good enough to rally them to an eighth place finish at the conference meet in what was a major improvement from last season.
"We really came together as a team this evening," said head coach Jeanne Fleck. "We had a slow start today and after a team meeting during break our team just came together. They were cheering each other on and it was very exciting to see all of them pick it up and score points."
One of the strongest performances of the day came in the 200 butterfly where freshman Rayanne Nguyen placed sixth with a time of 2:05.09 scoring crucial points for the 'Dogs. Junior Cindy Engle also put in a strong effort swimming a career best of 2:20.27, over three seconds faster than her previous best.
Sophomore Heidi Gjoen was also able to add some championship points to Fresno State's total with her performance in the 200 backstroke. Gjoen swam her way to a tenth place finish posting a finals time of 2:04.91. Sophomore Jordan Morillo also had a solid performance in the event with a season best time of 2:10.63.
The 200 breaststroke event proved to be a pivotal event for Fresno State as two Bulldog swimmers were able to finish in point awarded positions. Freshman Britney Vogel finished 11th place with a career best of 2:20.83 over a second faster than her preliminary time.
"Britney really got it together for us," said Fleck. "I'm really proud of how she rebounded from not feeling well early in the week to coming back and scoring very important points for us."
Mary Tess Taylor was right behind her teammate coming home in 12th place with a time of 2:22.40 shattering a previous career best by over two seconds.
The Dogs showed major improvement in the 1650 freestyle race with freshman Jen Hicks and senior Rebecca Strmiska both recording career best times in the mile endurance race. Hicks finished in a time of 17:43.39 over 23 seconds faster than her previous best time while Strmiska recorded a time of 18:32.85 dropping nearly a full minute on her previous best time.
"Jen and Rebecca were both great," said Fleck. "To improve on a time that dramatically takes a lot of heart and I am very proud of them."
The 400 freestyle relay team composed of Dani Yoho, Kat Vietti, Rayanne Nguyen and Heidi Gjoen posted a season best time of 3:32.70 which was over a second and a half faster than any time in the event this season. The strong effort was good enough to give the 'Dogs a crucial seventh place finish boosting them past Idaho in the final standings.
"Our relay team was awesome," said Fleck. "Each swimmer did a great job at holding there own and it was a crucial effort to get us past Idaho at the end of the meet."
On the diving side, freshman Stacey Luke was the top Bulldog performer in the 3-meter dive with a score of 240.10 good enough for an 11th place finish out of the 32 diver field. Blair Hopkins was next best for the 'Dogs with a 16th place finish recording a score of 208.50.
"Stacey came up huge for us this weekend," said Fleck. "She scored the most meet points for us in the meet and I am very proud of her."
Overall the 'Dogs had a lot of strong performances over the four day WAC Championships at the Josh Davis Natatorium. Fresno State had multiple swimmers and divers finish in the top 10 in various events and as a young team, gained a lot of experience that they will be able to take home and build on for next season.
"We are still a very young team and we did a lot of things right here this week," said Fleck. "We are going to keep getting better and better and I know that we will improve even more next season."
This year's performance at the WAC Championship marked a major improvement in comparison to last season when the Bulldogs only recorded a total of 121 points and finished ninth.
This year the dogs had multiple swimmers make it into the finals and accumulated a total of 217 championship points showing that they have made major improvements over the course of one season.
"We improved so much over the past year," said Fleck. "I am extremely proud of all of my swimmers and divers and I really can't wait to come back and do it again next year. We will continue to improve and we will be even better next season."
"We Are Your Team" - Next up, the Bulldogs swimming and diving team will be in San Antonio, Texas battling 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.
Players Mentioned
