Boise State jumped out to a day 1 lead at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Fresno.
Chick-Fil-A Invitational Day 1 Team Standings
Boise State - 587
San Diego State - 477.5
Nevada - 362
Fresno State - 275.5
San Jose State - 255
CSU Bakersfield - 143
Boise State Press Release
FRESNO, Calif. – Boise State swimming opened the new season in dominant fashion Friday at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Fresno, capturing wins in eight of the first day’s 12 events.
The Broncos sit atop the leaderboard with 587 points entering Saturday’s final session, which is set for an 11 a.m. MT start. San Diego State is in second with 477.5 points and Nevada rounds out the top three with 362 points.
“I thought we’ve been training really well this summer and you don’t really know what’s going to happen until you go out and race. I was really stoked with today’s performance, we had some standout swims and picked up where we left off in relays from the conference meets. The girls who put in a lot of work this summer, you could see that it paid off,” said Boise State head coach Jeremy Kipp.
Boise State swept the day’s three relays (200 medley relay, 200 free relay, 800 free relay) in addition to the 50, 200 and 500 frees, 100 back and 100 fly. Emma Chard and Felicity Cann finished 1-2 in both the 200 and 500 frees, with Chard posting winning times of 1:49.23 and 4:51.39, respectively. Cann posted respective times of 1:51.07 and 4:54.06.
Identical 1-2 finishes also happened in the 50 free and 100 fly, with Brittany Aoyama taking each event and Katelyn Martin coming in right behind her. Aoyama’s winning 50 free time of 23.06 was nearly a full second ahead of third-place Alma Thormalm (24.04) of San Diego State, with Martin in the middle with a time of 23.79. In the 100 fly, Aoyama touched first in 53.46 with Martin second in 55.58.
“Our leaders were spot-on today and took care of business. To see them do that and take care of business settles the team down and they see how we do things here at Boise State,” Kipp said about the performance of the upperclassmen Friday.
Ally Kleinsorgen and Abbey Sorensen went 1-2 in the 100 back, with Kleinsorgen taking the race in 56.14 and Sorensen clocking a 56.53. Redshirt freshman Georgia Zacest (58.88) took ninth and Emily Tanasse (59.28) 11th.
Sorensen took fourth in the 50 free at 24.10 with Kleinsorgen (24.19, T-fifth) and Monica Bottelberghe (24.29, seventh).
The Bronco foursome of Kleinsorgen, Laura Williams, Aoyama and Martin opened the day with a win in the 200 medley relay, touching in 1:43.22, beating runner-up San Diego State by 1.74 seconds. The Bronco “B” team of Sorensen, Robin Pinger, Monica Bottelberghe and Emmie Jennings finished fifth with a time of 1:46.67.
Boise State took two of the top-three spots in the 200 free relay in the afternoon session, with the foursome of Aoyama, Martin, Chard and Sorensen winning in a time of 1:33.19 and the “B” team of Kleinsorgen, Pinger, Jennings and Cann taking third in 1:36.07.
The day concluded with a victory in the 800 free relay as the foursome of Chard, Aoyama, Amelia Draney and Cann clocked a winning time of 7:25.17.
In the day's lone diving event, senior Karli Kriewall took second on 3-meter with a score of 276.70 with Kacee Olson (231.65) 11th, Cassidy Bose (231.30) 12th and freshman Taylor Hosein (226.65) 14th.
The Broncos got more strong individual performances throughout the day. Along with Chard and Cann’s 1-2 effort in the 500 free, junior Amelia Draney (4:58.76) took fourth and freshman Alyssa Schultz (5:05.34) was sixth. Schultz was also 12th in the 200 free with a time of 1:56.58.
Pinger took second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:06.91, with Williams (2:10.38) ninth and Emily Mathis (2:10.47) 10th. Williams and Pinger were also among the top six in the 100 breast as Williams (1:05.79) took fifth and Pinger (1:05.83) sixth.
“For the freshmen it’s always pretty tough at the start. The meets move faster, you’re expected to swim faster and you have to change your mindset,” Kipp said. “Our freshmen did really well today. They did a good job of handling the nerves and as the meet went on they got more settled and did a really good job.”
Emily Mathis turned in a fifth-place finish in the 400 IM, clocking a 4:33.40, with Draney (4:33.91) sixth and Anne Boodt (4:39.61) 11th.
Fresno State Press Release
FRESNO, Calif. – The Fresno State swimming and diving team opened up their 2016-17 season on Friday, hosting the Chick-fil-A Invitational. The Bulldogs finished day one in fourth place with 275.5 points behind Boise State (587), San Diego State (477.5) and Nevada (362). San Jose State is in fifth place with 255 points and CSU Bakersfield in sixth place with 143 points.
"It was great having five Mountain West teams competing here today," said head coach Jeanne Fleck. "Today was a great starting point for us. In the first session we had some really good highlights."
In the first event of the invitational Fresno State's 200 Medley Relay team of Ugne Mazutaityte, Manuela Mendolicchio, Esme Gullick and Hannah Jarvis took sixth place with a time of 1:46.82.
Freshman standout Manuela Mendolicchio shined on the first day of the invitational. The newcomer tied for first place in the 100 Breaststroke (1:04.75). That was the only first place finish by a Bulldog in the first two sessions. Mendolicchio took sixth place in the 200 IM (1:03.87).
Mazutaityte recorded a third place finish in the 100 Backstroke (57.10). The sophomore finished fourth in the 800 Freestyle Relay with Katelin Britton, Kelli Funk and Emily Niles.
"Our freshman Emily Niles and Manuela Mendolicchio, really stepped up for us today," said Fleck. "Our two redshirt seniors Kelly Simmons and Hannah Jarvis also had some great races today despite being out of the pool for an entire year. I was Impressed."
Freshman Emily Niles logged a seventh place finish in the 500 Freestyle and redshirt senior Kelly Simmons finished seventh in the 400 IM.
Senior diver Shelbie Holden placed fifth in the 3M with a score of 265.00.
"I'm really excited to see how we perform tomorrow and how we grow throughout the season," said Fleck.
Day two of the Chik-fil-A Invitational will start at 10 a.m. PT at the Fresno State Aquatics Center.
