Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Beach Cup (Loyola Marymount, San Diego, Pepperdine)
'Dogs Lead After Day One of Beach Cup
1/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
By: Andrew Rich
arich1221@mail.fresnostate.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. -- Fresno State swimming and diving put itself in a good position to defend its Beach Cup title after scoring 277 points on day one of the 2015 Beach Cup at the Aquatics Center. San Diego sits in second place with 171 points.
"We had a lot of solid swims today," Fresno State head coach Jeanne Fleck said. "Our depth really showed today and it helped us out a lot."
The Bulldogs opened the day with a 1-2 sweep of the 200 Medley Relay. Esme Gullick, Brooke Rodriguez, Tarryn Rennie and Leah Hatayama swam a 1:47.49 to win the race. Kali Conlon, Hailee Baldwin, Dana Jones and Hannah Jarvis finished just .16 seconds behind the winning relay team to help Fresno State claim 58 points in the opening race.
In the 500 Freestyle, Casey Kennemann swam a 5:03.97 to finish second. The freshman from Santa Maria, Calif., was edged by .04 seconds by San Diego senior Keenan Lineback.
Sophomore Esme Gullick finished the 200 IM in 2:07.52 to pick up another Fresno State win. The Bulldogs also had finishers in fourth and sixth with Hailee Baldwin (2:11.31) and Karissa DeRousseau (2:11.43).
Jarvis and Hatayama finished in first and third, respectively in the 50 Freestyle. Jarvis finished in 23.93 seconds, which was a lifetime-best time for the Auburn, Calif., native and Hatayama swam a 24.17. The Bulldogs also finished in spots 5-9 as well as 11th to score a total 65 points as a team in that event.
"I was really proud of what Hannah did today," Fleck said.
In the final swimming event of the day, Fresno State finished second and third in the 800 Freestyle Relay. Kelly Simmons, Lucy Titchin, Gullick and Kennemann swam a 7:43.76 to bring home the second place finish. Katelin Britton, Danielle Powers, DeRousseau and Hatayama combined for a 7:55.16 and the third place finish.
The Bulldogs went 1-2 in the 1-meter dive. Lacie Ruth, a junior from Visalia, Calif., picked up the first win of her Bulldog career with a career-best score of 289.43. Sophomore Shelbie Holden finished second with career-best 286.73 points.
"Lacie's been working really hard all year," Diving coach Taryn Patrick said. "Today was the first day she put it all together and it was a big eye-opener for her that she could do it. Hopefully we can keep this up and dive like this at UCLA, conference and NCAA Zones."
The Beach Cup finishes up tomorrow with 13 swimming events and the 3-meter diving. Swimming gets underway at 10 a.m., and the Bulldogs will also honor their senior class with a ceremony during the break midway through the meet.
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