More records broken, ‘Dogs remain 5th at MW Championship

Friday, February 22

Minneapolis, MN

Fresno State

Mountain West Championship

More records broken, ‘Dogs remain 5th at MW Championship

2/22/2019 6:45:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

Complete Results

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Zofia Niemczak (100 Fly) and Lucy Davies (400 IM) broke program records and the 'Dogs had three swimmers qualify for A finals on Friday at the MW Championship in Minneapolis. Niemczak had a fifth place finish in the 100 Fly and Ugne Mazutaityte finished fifth in the 100 Back as the 'Dogs kept hold of fifth place in the conference meet with one day remaining.

The Bulldogs are in good position for their best ever MW Championship finish heading into the final day. The 'Dogs have a 60 point lead over sixth-place Wyoming and could move up as they are just 20.5 points behind New Mexico in fourth.

Swimming Highlights

Niemczak first broke her own program record time in the 100 Fly prelims in 54.19, topping her high mark of 54.60 set last year. She placed sixth overall while Kimberly Harbert and Gabbie Libang made the B final and Osianna Mcreed was in the C final. In the final, Niemczak topped herself again in 54.02 to place 5^th overall. Libang went 54.65 in the B final to place second (10^th overall) and Harbert was fourth.
Zofia Niemczak continues her record-breaking week as she tops her own program record in the 100 Fly in 54.19! She qualifies for the A final in 6th place overall, Kimberly Harbert & Gabbie Libang make the B final #GoDogs #MWSD

Watch live on @floswimming - https://t.co/nExMOIcOsr pic.twitter.com/i14b4pbU9j
— Fresno State S&D (@FresnoStateSwim) February 22, 2019
Brenda Diaz Martinez made the 400 IM final as her time of 4:20.33 ranked seventh and Davies qualified for the B final with the 11^th best prelim time. Davies was a close second in the B final in 4:18.42, breaking the program record of 4:18.69 set by Esme Gullick in 2014 after cutting nearly five seconds off her prelim time. Diaz Martinez was 7^th in the overall final with a PR of 4:19.40.
Lucy Davies just broke the program record in the 400 IM with a time of 4:18.42, placing second in the B final! Brenda Diaz Martinez swims in the A final next #GoDogs #MWSD

Watch live on @floswimming - https://t.co/nExMOIcOsr pic.twitter.com/RfA4PDaQIX
— Fresno State S&D (@FresnoStateSwim) February 23, 2019
Mazutaityte tied for the sixth best 100 Back prelim time in 54.21 to reach the final. She recorded an NCAA B Standard time of 53.93 in the final, finishing fifth overall and missing her program record time by just .05.
Manuela Mendolicchio went 1:02.29 in the 100 Breast prelims and just missed the A final in 10^th place. In the B final, Mendolicchio touched fourth in 1:02.13, narrowly missing her program record time of 1:02.02.
In the 200 Free prelims, Emily Cutler won her heat with a time of 1:49.40 to make the B final with the second fastest time in program history. She placed fourth in the consolation final.
Fresno State nearly won the first heat of the 200 Free Relay as Harbert, McReed, Emma Monnich, and Cutler were just out-touched by Wyoming with a time of 1:32.60. Their time was good for seventh overall.

Diving Highlights

The final MW diving competition, platform, will take place in Saturday.

Notes

Niemczak has broken a program record in each of the first three days of the meet. She holds four individual program records in the 200 Free, 500 Free, 100 Fly, and 200 Fly.
Last year the 'Dogs were in 10th place after the third day of the MW Championship and finished seventh as the last day contains some of the team's best events.

Quotes
Head Coach Jeanne Fleck
"We're just swimming out of our heads. It's been so exciting and we've got a great meet going. It's going to be tough tomorrow going after New Mexico but it will be fun."

What's Next

The MW Championship concludes on Saturday with platform diving as well as the 1650 Free, 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, and 400 Free Relay. Mendolicchio is the defending MW champion in the 200 Breast and Mazutaityte is a two-time 200 Back conference champion. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. Pacific time and final begin at 4:30.

MW Championship Standings (Through 14 Events)
1. San Diego State - 924
2. Nevada - 862.5
3. Boise State - 740
4. New Mexico - 537
5. Fresno State - 516.5
6. Wyoming - 456.5
7. Colorado State - 433
8. San Jose State - 383.5
9. UNLV - 367
10. Air Force - 284

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