A late, second-half surge in day-two of the Valley Invitational gives seniors a victory over San Diego in their final home meet
Matt Weir/The Collegian
It has been three years since the swimming and diving team first splashed onto the scene at Fresno State, giving head coach Jeanne Fleck plenty of exposure to the ups and downs of building a collegiate program.
And Friday and Saturday’s three-team Valley Invitational swim meet had its fair share of just that.
Friday’s six-event portion of the meet left Fleck ecstatic after her team recorded three event victories and sat just 12 points behind meet leader Loyola Marymount and four points in front of San Diego.
But a slow start followed by a late surge during the latter portion of the meet on Saturday left Fleck with mixed emotions when it was all said and done.
“I was pretty happy Friday night was really, really good,” Fleck said. “I would say our second session in the morning during the first part of the meet we were a little sluggish. We came back better at the end, but it’s a long meet.”
At the end of the meet, Loyola Marymount won with a score of 354, followed by Fresno State’s 268 and San Diego’s 257.
Friday was highlighted by a meet-opening 200-yard medley relay victory anchored by sophomore sensation Dani Yoho’s strong finish. Yoho then followed up with a first place finish in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.67. Her time was just nearly four-tenths of a second shy of the school record that Yoho set last year.
But the ‘Dogs saw the following morning derail somewhat as Fresno State recorded just two victories through the first seven events, a start Fleck wasn’t exactly looking for.
“I was happy in some spots, disappointed in a little bit of others,” Fleck said.
Fresno State’s poor start to the day finally caught a breath of life during the diving portion. The ‘Dogs recorded a first place, second place and third place sweep of the competition with a strong performance from injured freshman Hannah Prigge.
Prigge dove through a shoulder injury to her first-place finish in the three-meter dive with a career-best score 283.75. Prigge also dominated the one-meter dive the previous day with a score of 269.70.
“I felt really good,” Prigge said. “I went in and hit six-for-six on my dives. I just felt really confident and relaxed.”
Alongside Prigge, diving teammates Stacey Luke and Kendra Weeks rounded out Fresno State’s top-three finishes. Three events later, Yoho concluded her excellent invitational with a winning performance in the 100-yard freestyle, the Bulldogs’ final event win of the meet.
The Valley Invitational also marked the final home meet for Fresno State’s four seniors. Swimmers Cindy Engle, Stephanie Hatayama, Lacey Payne, along with Weeks, a diver, were honored during a memorable pre-meet ceremony for Fleck.
“It is really emotional,” Fleck said. “Cindy [Engle], with the improvement that she’s had, and Stephanie Hatayama, I can’t even tell you how much they have improved since they got here. And Lacey [Payne] has been a great addition this year coming in from Bakersfield and doing great things.”
Up next for Fresno State is a dual meet at San Jose State on Feb. 5. The dual meet will be the Bulldogs’ final tune up before they head to the Western Athletic Conference Championships in San Antonio, Texas, a meet Fresno State placed eighth in last season.
But despite the Bulldogs’ struggles in the championships last year, Fleck is confident that with a little downtime and a few corrections, her team has a great chance to improve.
“We’ve got to get the little things corrected,” Fleck said. “We’re making little mistakes. I felt like our race strategies were really good and we’re a little tired. But we’ve been training for three-and-a-half weeks. While everybody else was on break, we were training twice a day, every day. So I think they’re a little broken down. I think that with rest we’ll be great.”