Fresno State Athletics
Jim Bartko Letter to the Red Wave
1/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
Jan. 28, 2016
Hello Red Wave,
What an exciting start to 2016 it has been for the Bulldogs!
I must say how proud we are of our women's tennis team and coach Ryan Stotland for their huge victories over No. 34 Arkansas and No. 9 UCLA last week. The win over the Bruins advanced our team on to the Sweet 16 of the 2016 ITA Indoor Championships. It will be our third trip to the Sweet 16 since 2008, which is the most from any school in a non-Power 5 conference. We look forward to cheering them on next week in Wisconsin.
Our freshman phenom swimmer Ugne Mazutaityte was selected by the Lithuanian Swimming Federation to swim at the European Aquatics Championship in May, giving her an opportunity to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in the backstroke. We all look forward to watching her pursue her dream of reaching the Olympics. No Bulldog swimmer has ever competed in the Olympic Games.
Our women's basketball team is off to an 8-0 start and atop the Mountain West standings. Men's basketball is 11-2 at home this year and 5-3 in conference play, remaining in the top four in the league standings. They both are playing really well right now and it is time for the community to buy in and support our teams. Let's pack the Save Mart Center the rest of this year and help our teams stay hot as they chase Mountain West titles. Our men's team ranks seventh in the Mountain West in attendance and our women's team third, which I believe we can do much better than that.
Come out and watch Marvelle Harris chase down Melvin Ely's school scoring record and watch Bego Faz Davalos put up double-doubles just about every night.
Football has rolled its calendar over to a new year. I'm really excited about the assistant coaches that Tim DeRuyter has added to his football staff. With signing day coming up next week and spring football at the end of February, now is the time when the 2016 season really starts.
Bulldog Foundation and football season ticket renewal packets will be hitting mailboxes next week. We can't thank you enough for your long-standing support. Your donations to our scholarship fund, as well as your football ticket purchases, are the backbone of our department. Every donor matters and every donation makes an impact on our student-athletes. The BDF also launched its new website last week (bulldogscholarshipfund.com), which will make the ticket renewal and donation process easier for you. Our dedicated team is here to help you with any questions you might have, so please give us a call or stop by our offices any time.
Lastly, we look forward to the upcoming release of the 2015 Fall Mountain West All-Academic Teams. Our student-athletes continue to impress us with their dedication in the classroom. That is an important part to their education, growth and development as well as a focus for us as a department. It is our calling to have athletics and academics rise together at Fresno State.
We want Fresno State to be the best in the Mountain West and to make this community proud. Please jump on board and join us in that mission.
Go `Dogs!
Jim
Players Mentioned
