Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
WAC Championships
Bulldogs Beat Lifetime Bests
2/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 25, 2011
FRESNO, Calif. - In the third day of the Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championship Meet, seven Bulldogs scored points for their team and many of them clocked lifetime best times. The Bulldogs continued to improve their times and sit in seventh place, just 28 points behind the Nevada Wolf Pack.
"We had a great night," said head coach Jeanne Fleck. "Seven different girls scored tonight and we had nine swims. That's the most we've ever had by twice the amount."
The last race of the day was one of great excitement as the 400-yard medley relay team broke the third Fresno State relay record and fourth Fresno State record of the meet. A team of four Dogs, Heidi Gjoen, Britney Vogel, Rayanne Nguyen and Dani Yoho worked together to clock a time of 3:49.66. They beat the previous record set in 1997-98 by over 1.5 seconds.
The Bulldogs broke the 200-yard medley relay in day one and the 200-yard freestyle relay in day two. Yoho also broke the 50-yard freestyle record during the second day of competition.
The first race to kick off day three was the 400-yard individual medley. Brittany Buna swam a 4:27.83 in the preliminary rounds for ninth place. Lacey Payne clocked a lifetime-best of 4:42.38 in the preliminary round improving by more than seven seconds.
Nguyen and senior Cindy Engle both swam career-best times in the 100-yard butterfly. Nguyen finished 14th in the preliminary round and improved her time to 56.86 in the finals for a 12th place finish. Engle swam the race in a time of 1:00.71, improving her career-best by more than one second.
All five Bulldogs who competed in the 200-yard freestyle swam career-bests in the championship meet. Kat Vietti was described by her coach as a "star" and led the way by improving her lifetime best by more than four seconds, swimming a 1:53.72 and placing 23rd. Brooke Fuller, Alexis Melnikov, Stephanie Hatayama and Jen Hicks all swam career-bests in the sprint race.
Vogel stroked to a fifth place finish in the final of the 100-yard breaststroke event. The sophomore clocked a lifetime best of 1:03.43 and scored important points for the Bulldogs. Michelle Dockendorf swam a career-best in the event with a time of 1:05.07 and a 17th place finish overall. Sarah Pino was also a strong competitor for the Dogs and clocked a time of 1:06.76.
Gjoen had a solid fifth place finish for the Bulldogs in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 56.02. Dede Torres swam her lifetime best in the event with a time of 59.36 in the preliminary race.
Off the diving board both Stacey Luke and Hannah Prigge scored points for the Bulldogs, giving them a boost. Luke placed 13th with a score of 231.00 points and Prigge was 15th with a score of 219.85. Tomorrow holds platform diving for the Bulldogs and they look forward to a strong and extremely competitive day off the platform board.
"I am very excited about tomorrow and we have a really good day ahead of us," said Fleck. "It's going to be close between Nevada and us in the end. Diving has to step up and score and we all have to step up and score points."
"We Are Your Team!" - The Bulldogs have their final day of competition at the WAC Championship Meet tomorrow. Events begin at 9 a.m. PT and you can watch the finals streaming live via WAC.tv or watch the live results. Check gobulldogs.com for recaps and results.
