Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Beach Cup (San Diego, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount)
'Dogs Capture Third Straight Beach Cup Title
1/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
By Jason Kelm
jakelm@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Fresno State swimming and diving team captured its third straight Beach Cup title with 817.5 points to best San Diego (589), Loyola Marymount (404.5) and Pepperdine (321) on Saturday afternoon in San Diego as the Bulldogs placed first in 13 of 20 events.
"This was a really good meet," Fresno State head coach Jeanne Fleck said. "We have a lot of depth this year, so even when we don't place first, we have a lot of swimmers earning points, and that's really important in these meets. However, we need to work on some little things and sharpen up. We need to get better and we're excited to get back home and finish off with a bang against San Jose before the Mountain West Championships."
Highlights of the second day of the meet for Fresno State include senior Leah Hatayama placing first in the 100 and 200 freestyle events and freshman Ugne Mazutaityte taking the top spot in the 100 and 200 backstroke events.
Hatayama slipped by San Diego's Jackie Taylor to win the 100 free by 0.22 seconds with a time of 52.66 seconds. In the 200 free, Hatayama's 1:54.63 was enough to take the top spot.
Mazutaityte continued her dominance in the backstroke events as she won the 100 back with a swim of 57.52 seconds and the 200 back by 8.87 seconds faster than second place with a time of 2:01.77. The Bulldogs took six of the top seven spots in the 100 back with strong supporting swims from Lindsay Ruiz (Sr), Kali Conlon (Jr), Emma Monnich (Fr), Ally Short (So) and Karissa DeRousseau (Sr).
Fresno State also placed first in the 400 IM (Esme Gullick, Jr), 1650 free (Vanessa Dugan, So), 200 butterfly (Tarryn Rennie, Jr), 200 free relay and 400 medley relay.
The Bulldog divers continued their strong performance this weekend as they took the top three spots in the 3-meter event courtesy of senior Lacie Ruth (256.85), junior Shelbie Holden (249.90) and freshman Irina Nikolaeva (244.45). The divers will now head to the UCLA Bruin Diving Invitational on Sunday to compete in the platform dives.
Fresno State's final meet before the Mountain West Championships will be at home against San Jose State on January 30 at noon at the Fresno State Aquatics Center.
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Players Mentioned
