Fresno State picked up 2 dual meet victories this weekend in a tri meet with University of Pacific (149-112) and Oregon State (155-107). Former Pac-12 champion Sammy Harrison won 2 events for Oregon State: The 500 (5:01.60) and 1000 (10:29.99).
Oregon State:
STOCKTON, Calif.. – Each of senior Sammy Harrison and junior Czsarina Isleta won a pair of events to lead the Oregon State swimming team in a dual meet at Pacific on Saturday at the Chris Kjeldsen Pool.
Harrison opened the meet with a time of 10:29.99 in the 1,000-yard freestyle to record her fifth win in the event this season. The Henderson, Nev. native tallied her second win of the meet in the 500-yard freestyle, clocking a time of 5:01.60 to win by nearly seven seconds and remain undefeated in the event for the 2015-16 season.
Sandwiched in between the two events, Harrison added a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 1:54.75. Senior Constance Toulemonde followed Harrison in the event, finishing third with a time of 1:55.88.
Isleta posted her first win of the meet in the 100-yard breaststroke, clocking a time of 1:04.56. The junior followed with her second victory of the meet with a win in the 200 breaststroke, placing first behind a time of 2:20.39.
Other notable individual finishes included a second-place finish by freshman Megan Lam in the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.65), as well as third-place finishes by sophomore Corrine Shigeta in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.07) and senior Amani Amr in the 200-yard backstroke (2:04.79).
The Beavers also fared well in relay events, as the foursome of Toulemonde, junior Anni Hecker, junior Sophie MacEwan and Harrison highlighted relay performers with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:34.69). OSU also recorded a third-place finish and time of 1:47.74 in the 200-yard medley relay, swam by Amr, Isleta, Lam and redshirt junior Claire McLaggan.
Following this weekend, the Oregon State swimming team returns to Corvallis, Ore. for a home meet on Saturday, Nov. 14. The Beavers are set to host BYU in a dual meet at Dixon.
Pacific:
Stockton, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers swim team wrapped up another successful swim meet with both the men’s and women’s teams competing at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. The Tigers fought through a number of illnesses and injuries to come up with a strong showing in the meet. “It went well, we were battling…but you’ve got to show up every day and really rock it,” said Head Coach Peter Richardson of the team’s effort.
Pacific started the day with second-place finishes in both the women’s and men’s 200 Medley Relay. The team of Haley Preston, Whitney Jorgensen, Kenna Ramey, and Vaiva Gimbutytefinished with a time of 1:46.20 that was just .15 behind the leader, while the men’s team ofMakoa Haneberg, Yahav Shahaff, Jared Vu, andMitchell Ongstad finished in 1:32.14.
Jorgensen also won the 200 Fly with a time of 2:06.39. “[Jorgensen] swam really tough in a tough training phase for her right now,” said Richardson of Jorgensen’s ability to fight through and come up with great times.
Jana Burkard came in second in the 1000 Free at 10:37.32, continuing her strong season of distance swims. “Jana swam really tough…I’m really proud of her,” said Richardson of Burkard’s day, which also included a 1:56.17 time in the 200 Free and a second-place time of 5:08.11 in the 500 Free.
Pacific put together an impressive showing in the 100 Back, with Isabella Green taking second with a time of 57.63, Cai Hong Singh taking third at 57.99, and Haley Preston finishing just behind them at 58.31. Green set season-best times in almost all of her events, finishing in 2:03.85 in the 200 Back and 2:07.85 in the 200 IM. Richardson heaped praise on Green for her performance, saying that “she’s somebody that comes to work every day and grinds and it’s great to see it all fall into rhythm like that.”
Makoa Haneberg took second for the Tigers in the Men’s 100 Back, matching his Tigers counterparts on the women’s side. Haneberg had a time of 50.60.
Georan Meendering put up great times all day, finishing third in the 50 Free with a time of 21.65, just behind his teammate Shahaff’s time of 20.78. Meendering also set a lifetime-best time in the first leg of the 400 Free Relay as part of the team that finished first with a time of 3:06.59. “Georan is a team leader, he’s been battling a few things [health-wise],” said Richardson. “It was really great to see what focus can bring for him.”
It wasn’t just Meendering’s team that put up a great time in the 400 Free Relays, as Pacific finished second with a time of 3:10.14 as well on the men’s side and took third with a time of 3:35.84 for the women. “We stepped up in the back half of the meet, I was really proud of that coming home in some of those relays,” said Richardson.
Jared Vu came close to setting a new lifetime best in the 100 Fly, a performance that earned rave reviews from Richardson. Vu’s time of 49.48 was good enough to win the event, with Pacific’s Haneberg getting second at 50.58. The Tigers also won the 200 IM thanks to a time of 1:53.56 by Curtis Klein.
Lauren Davis fought hard in the 200 Breast, with Richardson commenting on Davis’ exceptional race. Davis ended up with a time of 2:23.51 in the event.
Next up for Pacific will be the A3 Invitational in Los Angeles. The meet will begin November 19 and will continue on November 20 and November 21. Richardson was happy with the readiness of the Tigers, saying “I’m excited to be back to health as a team. We’re getting healthy and swimming at full speed.”
Make sure to follow Pacific swimming on Twitter with the username @PacificTigersH2O and on Instagram at pacificswimteam.
Fresno State:
STOCKTON, Calif. – The Fresno State swimming team came out ahead and held the lead in its double dual meet to pick up wins against the University of Pacific (149-112) and Oregon State (155-107) on Saturday afternoon to bring its record to 2-1 for the 2015-16 season.
“I think these were the best dual meets that I’ve ever had at Fresno State,” eighth year Fresno State head coach Jeanne Fleck said. “The team swam with confidence. We might not have broken any records, but many of our swimmers really stepped up for the first time this season.”
The Bulldogs started off strong as they won the 200 Medley Relay with freshman Ugne Mazutaityte, senior Brooke Rodriguez, junior Tarryn Rennie and senior Leah Hatayama with a time of 1:46.05.
Fresno State would remain in the lead as sophomore Casey Kennemann won the 200 Freestyle (1:54.42) and Mazutaityte continued her strong backstroke performances, winning the 100 (57.39) and 200 (2:01.16) for the second week in a row.
Rodriguez and junior Hailee Baldwin took the top two spots against Pacific in the 100 Breaststroke with 1:04.89 and 1:07.34, respectively. Rodriguez’s time would be .33 seconds behind Oregon State’s fastest swimmer in the event.
Hatayama kept the Bulldogs hot when she swam a 23.55 to win the 50 Freestyle and a 51.60 to win the 100 Freestyle.
“Leah [Hatayama] was amazing today,” Fleck added. “Though I believe she had the best meet of all the swimmers,Casey Kennemann was right up there.”
Fresno State wrapped the meets up with wins in the 400 Freestyle Relay with Hatayama, Rodriguez, sophomore Katelin Britton and Kennemann with a time of 3:30.85.
“They’re all learning,” Fleck said. “We’ve talked about what’s been holding us back from winning. Before the meet, we agreed to forget about the word `win’ and just keep the process going. Every time we get up on that block, we get better.”
The Bulldogs return home next Saturday for their first home meet of the season when they take on Fresno Pacific and UC Santa Cruz at noon.
“It’ll be nice to get home and swim in front of our fans,” Fleck said. “We’ll be mixing up some of the events for the swimmers and getting the chance to see what else they can do. It’s going to be a fun meet.”
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Swimming news courtesy of Oregon State, Fresno State, and Pacific Swimming & Diving.