Boise State turned on the heat on the final day to win the Chick-Fil-A Invitational.
Team Scores
The Broncos topped the leaderboard with 1,002 points, followed by San Diego State (825.5), Nevada (664), Fresno State (517.5), San Jose State (465) and CSU Bakersfield (281).
Boise State Press Release
FRESNO, Calif. – A day after winning eight of 12 events, Boise State swimming and diving finished off it’s victory at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Fresno with four more event wins Saturday.
The Broncos topped the leaderboard with 1,002 points, followed by San Diego State (825.5), Nevada (664), Fresno State (517.5), San Jose State (465) and CSU Bakersfield (281).
Overall, the Broncos won 12 events at the meet and swept all five relays. Brittany Aoyama led Boise State with eight wins at the meet, followed by Emma Chard with six.
"The whole goal this weekend was to see where we're at, and the girls did a good job staying focused for three sessions," said Boise State head coach Jeremy Kipp. "Each swimmer swam anywhere from three to seven times so it was about getting used to individual schedules. Our swimmers gave us a lot to evaluate this weekend."
"Brittany was on fire. She had a lot of family there so I think she wanted to give them something to be proud of, and she represented really well. Emma did the mile for the first time in four years and had a really good swim. She was really good as we challenged her with some new events," Kipp added.
Boise State bookended Saturday’s action with a pair of relay wins, opening with the foursome of Allyson Kleinsorgen, Laura Williams, Brittany Aoyama and Katelyn Martin capturing the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:46.25, beating runner-up San Diego State by 3.38 seconds. The Bronco “B” team of Abbey Sorensen, Robin Pinger, Monica Bottelberghe and Felicity Cann took fifth in 3:53.39. The day was closed with a 3.57-second victory in the 400 free relay from the foursome of Aoyama, Martin, Pinger and Emma Chard in 3:23.89. Sorensen, Kleinsorgen, Bottelberghe and Cann touched in fourth with a time of 3:30.53.
Aoyama posted three wins Saturday with Chard notching two, with Aoyama taking the 100 free in 50.19 and Chard winning the 1,650 free in 17:00.56.
Kleinsorgen (2:03.00) and Sorensen (2:03.50) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 200 back, with Emily Tanasse (2:06.05) coming in seventh. In the 1,650 free, Amelia Draney finished third in 17:29.46 with Mandy Barnes right behind her in fourth with a time of 17:34.13 and freshman Alyssa Schultz (17:49.13) in ninth to give the Broncos four swimmers in the top 10.
Martin took fourth in the 100 free at 52.15 with freshmen Emmie Jennings (53.13) and Jamie Nats (53.34) finishing seventh and ninth, respectively.
Emily Mathis (2:21.36), Williams (2:22.39) and Pinger (2:23.90) took spots four through six, respectively, in the 200 breast while Cann topped the Broncos with a 12th-place finish in the 200 fly at 2:09.45.
Boise State's swimmers and divers will next be in action from Nov. 17-19, with the swimmers traveling to Mansfield, Texas, for the Texas A&M Invitational and the divers heading to Flagstaff, Ariz., for the Lumberjack Invitational.
"Based on our summer and the swimmers' attitudes the last couple of weeks, I expected this to be pretty good weekend," Kipp said. "The next six weeks now is about ramping up the training for the big invitational in November. This weekend was a good jumping off point for us."
Fresno State Press Release
FRESNO, Calif.- After two days of competition Fresno State took fourth place in the Chick-fil-A Invitational with a total of 517.5 points. Boise State (1,002) finished in first place, followed by San Diego State (825.5) and Nevada (664). San Jose State (465) took fifth place and CSU Bakersfield finished in sixth (281) to round out the competition.
"It was a great early season meet.," said head coach Jeanne Fleck. "I'm happy we had some freshman step up and finish strong in a lot of events."
Freshman Manuela Mendolicchio and sophomore Ugne Mazutaityte built off their momentum from Friday's events and finished strong for the Bulldogs.
"Manuela Mendolicchio and Ugne Mazutaityte had some great first places finishes, which were huge for us this weekend," Fleck said.
Mendolicchio had her second first place finish of the invitational in the 200 Breaststroke (2:18.51). Medolicchio and Mazutaityte were both members of the 400 Medley Relay team that finished seventh (3.55.18).
Mazutaityte took first place for the Bulldogs in the 200 Backstroke (2:02.24).
Emily Niles continued to put up points for Fresno State on day two. The freshman had a sixth place (17:38.56) finish in the 1650 Freestyle.
Another highlight of the invitational was the 200 Butterfly with three Bulldogs placing in the top ten. Senior Esme Gullick finished in fifth place (2:07.55) with freshman Kimberly Harbert(2:08.06) and Natalia Nienaltowska (2:08.58) close behind.
Senior diver Shelbie Holden lead the 'Dogs on the boards with a sixth place finish in the 1M with a score of 254.35.
"I saw a lot of good things this weekend but there are also a lot of areas we need to improve," said Fleck. "That's what this part of the season is all about, learning from very meet and improving."
Fresno State will travel to Stockton, Calif. to compete in the UOP Invitational on Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. PT.
