Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Bulldog Invitational (Air Force & San Jose State)
'Dogs Finish Second in Bulldog Invite
10/11/2014 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
By: Andrew Rich
arich1221@mail.fresnostate.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. -- Fresno State swimming and diving won four events on Saturday at the Bulldog Invitational to help bring home a second place team finish. The `Dogs finished with 972 points. San Jose State took home the team total with 1,292 points.
"I couldn't have been happier with how we performed today," Fresno State head coach Jeanne Fleck said. "Over half of our team is freshman and sophomores and so you never know how they're going to respond the second session and they just kept getting better."
Fresno State closed the meet with a win in the 400 Freestyle relay. Leah Hatayama, Lucy Titchin, Katelin Britton and Dana Jones swam a 3:30.53 to edge San Jose State by a half second.
"San Jose is a great sprint program, so for us to beat them gives us the confidence that we can do it," Fleck said. "It was really exciting because our girls are learning how to race and having confidence in their abilities."
Sophomore Esme Gullick, swimming with fractured fingers, won the 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:06.94. Tarryn Rennie finished fourth in 2:09.51 and freshman Casey Kennemann finished fifth with a time of 2:10.91.
"I'm really proud of Esme because on Tuesday when she got hurt I thought there was no way she was going to swim this weekend," Fleck said. "She trained really hard this summer and did so well at conference last year that her goals are so much higher now that she is going to take it to that next level."
Shelbie Holden was victorious in the 1-meter dive to record the first win of her collegiate career. The sophomore diver from Carmichael, Calif., scored 246.75 to beat San Jose State's Cari Reiswig.
"It feels really good to be able to win the meet and know that I can keep building on from here," Holden said.
Brooke Rodriguez won her first event in her Fresno State career with a 1:05.43 in the 100 Breaststroke. The junior from Stonewall, Va., was making her Bulldog debut this weekend. In the 200 Breaststroke, she turned in a 2:24.29 to finish third.
Fresno State had a very strong 2-3 showing in the 400 Medley relay. The team of Gullick, Rodriguez, Kennemann and Titchin swam a 3:57.64 to finish second and was followed in third by the team of Allison Short, Hailee Baldwin, Rennie and Hatayama, which finished in 3:58.74.
Hatayama came back later in the day and swam a solid 52.58 second 100 Freestyle race to finish second. Behind her was Titchin, who finished in 53.33 seconds to finish fourth.
The `Dogs went 3-4-5 in the 400 IM, with Gullick leading the way with a 4:35.40. Freshman Mathilde Huss-Hansen (4:38.62) and Kennemann (4:41.79) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the 200 Freestyle, Fresno State again placed three in the top ten. Titchin, a senior from England, led the way with a 1:54.46 to finish third. Kelly Simmons finished seventh with a time of 1:57.32 and Britton swam a 1:57.92 for a ninth place finish.
Hatayama led a group of three Fresno State swimmers finishing in the top ten of the 100 Butterfly. The junior from Sanger finished in 59.86 seconds to finish sixth. Sophomores Rennie (1:00.13) and Hailee Baldwin (1:00.22) finished ninth and tenth.
Fresno State opened day two of the competition with a strong showing in the 200 Freestyle relay. Hatayama, Hannah Jarvis, Britton and Jones teamed up to swim a 1:37.07 and finish second. The other Bulldog 200 Freestyle relay team finished fifth with a 1:39.36.
The `Dogs return to action on Saturday, October 25 at noon at the Aquatics Center to host a dual meet against Nevada.
"Be Bold!" - The official home of the Fresno State Bulldogs is 940 AM ESPN Radio.
Players Mentioned
