FRESNO, California, October 11. The Fresno State women’s swimming and diving team currently sits in second after the first day of racing at their own Bulldog Invitational. San Jose State is first with 361 points, while Fresno State (246 points) and Air Force (238 points) are second and third.
Fresno State Press Release
Fresno State swimming and diving opened its 2014-2015 campaign with day one of the Bulldog Invitational on Friday afternoon at the Aquatics Center. After day one, the `Dogs sit in second place with 289 points.
“I’m really happy with what we did today,” Fresno State head coach Jeanne Fleck said. “We had some freshman step up and some upperclassmen do some really good things and our 500 (freestyle) was really good.”
Junior Leah Hatayama finished second in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 23.87 seconds, just five-tenths of a second off her career-best time she set at last year’s Mountain West Championship. Junior Hannah Jarvis, on her first day of competition as a Bulldog, swam a 24.68 to finish in 10th.
Junior Kelly Simmons swam a solid 5:04.15 in the 500 Freestyle to grab a fourth place finish and score 15 points for the `Dogs. She was followed by Lucy Titchin (5:06.78) and freshman Casey Kennemann (5:09.37) in sixth and seventh, respectively.
“Kelly has made great strides,” Fleck said. “She has learned how to train and she does everything we ask her to do. She is just going to keep getting better and better.”
In the 200 IM, sophomore Esme Gullick swam a 2:09.95 to finish third. She was joined in the top ten by teammates Karissa DeRousseau (2:10.82, 6th) and Hailee Baldwin (2:11.33, 8th).
Sophomore diver Shelbie Holden scored a 262.70 in the 3-meter dive competition to finish second. Teammate Noelle Farrer finished fifth with a score of 212.45 and Lacie Ruth was seventh with a 205.95.
“Shelbie did so well at the end of last year and was so consistent that I think she is just going to keep getting better,” Fleck said. “It’s tough for her right now with Taryn (Patrick) gone on maternity leave. I think she’ll be even better second semester when she gets to work with her diving coach all the time.”
The `Dogs opened the day with the 200 Medley relay. Two relay teams combined to score 58 points for the team total with the team of Kali Conlon, Hailee Baldwin, Tarryn Rennie and Leah Hatayama finishing fourth in 1:48.39 to pace Fresno State. Freshman Allison Short and junior Brooke Rodriguez made their Bulldog debuts alongside Esme Gullick and Lucy Titchin and finished fifth with a time of 1:48.89.
The `Dogs closed the day with the 800 Freestyle relay and the team of Titchin, Katelin Britton, Simmons and Gullick finished third with a time of 7:45.78.
Fresno State returns to the Aquatics Center on Saturday morning for the conclusion of the Bulldog Invitational. Events begin at 10:00 a.m., and can again be seen live on the Mountain West Network.
“I want to see how we rebound after a tough night,” Fleck said. “It’s a fast meet with not a lot of breaks so we’ve got to figure out how to come back.”
Results: Bulldog Invitational, Day One