Kansas Splits With UCLA and Fresno State
Fresno State
The Fresno State swimming and diving team competed in Southern California today where they faced off against two of the nations premier programs, the UCLA Bruins and the Kansas Jayhawks.
The Bulldogs were a part of history this afternoon as they competed in the inaugural swim meet held at UCLA's brand new Spieker Aquatic Center.
Coming off of a long month and a half of training, the `Dogs fought hard showing some bright spots but came up short in the end with a final score of 240-59 against Kansas and 245-55 against UCLA.
"Weve been doing a great job in training and I feel like we have made some progress," said head coach Jeanne Fleck. "We have been working a lot with our race strategy and we did a good job with that today."
Freshman Britney Vogel had one of the Bulldogs top performances of the day competing in the 100 breaststroke event where she posted a time of 1:05.90, good enough for a second place finish against Kansas and a third place finish against UCLA.
Freshman Dani Yoho continued to impress with her lightning fast performance in the 50 freestyle event, boasting a time of 24.32 good enough for third overall out of the 14 swimmers that competed.
"Britney and Dani continue to be fast and do a great job for us," said Fleck
The Bulldogs also looked sharp in the 200 breaststroke event where Sarah Pino finished third against both Kansas and UCLA posting a lifetime best of 2:24.69.
On the diving side Stacey Luke was the top performer for the `Dogs with a 1-meter score of 207.95 good enough for third against Kansas. Luke was also tough in the 3-meter dive scoring 224.10, good enough for second place against Kansas and fourth against UCLA.
"Stacey did a good job today," said diving coach Taryn Patrick. "Its good for us to compete against the best because it makes us all better."
The Bulldogs look forward to returning home next week, where they will compete in the schools first home meet since the return of the program in 2008. The meet will be against Pacific and will be at 4:00 p.m. on Jan. 14 at Clovis North High School.
"We are really excited to have a home meet," said Fleck. "Both upcoming meets should be really competitive and really strong for us and if we get it all right we really do have a chance to get two wins."
"We are Your Team" - The Bulldog swimming and diving team returns to the pool January, 14th when the `Dogs host their first ever home meet as they face off against Pacific at 4:00 p.m. at Clovis North High School. Keep up with team events and exclusive blog's at www.gobulldogs.com
Kansas
Junior Iuliia Kuzhil and freshman Monica Johannessen both recorded two first-place finishes to lift the University of Kansas swimming and diving team past Fresno State. The Jayhawks defeated the Bulldogs 240-59, but fell to UCLA 168-132 Friday in Los Angeles. Kansas is now 3-4 in dual competition.
"Today was our best dual meet of the season," Kansas head coach Clark Campbell said Friday. "Our goal is to surpass the times we achieved in the fall and create momentum heading into the Championship season. We had several today. We raced UCLA very well and kept it close until the end."
Kuzhil won the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events with times of 55.58 seconds and 1:59.59, respectively. The junior from Cherkasy, Ukraine also led Kansas' 200-yard medley relay team which included junior captain Joy Bunting, sophomore Abigail Anderson and Johannessen to a second place finish with a time of 1:45.12.
Johannessen's two victories came in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events, where the freshman from Haugesund, Norway finished with times of 24.09 seconds and 52.16 seconds. Kansas took the top three spots in the 100 freestyle, with Johannessen placing first, and fellow freshmen Brooke Brull and Lindsey Legako taking second and third, respectively. Brull also recorded a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, defeating UCLA's Bianca Casciari by .10 seconds with a time of 1:53.60.
Senior captain Meg Proehl led the Kansas Diving team, placing first in the one-meter diving competition with a score of 261.85. Proehl, a senior from San Diego, Calif., also recorded a second-place finish in the three-meter dive with a score of 258.50.
Other notable scorers included sophomore Shannon Garlie, who placed second in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:19.51), Bunting, who swam to a second place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:21.86), while freshman Rebecca Swank won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:01.92.
The Kansas 200-yard freestyle relay team of Johannessen, Kuzhil, junior Amanda Maez and Brull captured first place with a time of 1:35.11.
The Jayhawks return to the pool Saturday in Los Angeles when KU takes on Loyola Marymount and UC San Diego. The meet is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
