Jan. 27, 2016
San Jose, Calif. --- The San Jose State women's swimming and diving heads to the central valley to square off against Mountain West rival Fresno State in the final dual meet of the season on Saturday.
San Jose State (6-3) has won eight straight meetings with Fresno State (5-2), winning 11 of the last 12 dual meets. Last season the Spartans beat the Bulldogs, 212-86, on Senior Day at The Aquatics Center.
"We need to bring our 'A' game. They have one of the better sprinters, one of the best two backstrokers in the conference and they consistently are a fine diving program." Hopkins said about Fresno State. "It's going to be a meet where they are going to win some events and we're going to win some events."
The Spartans have been victorious in their last three visits to the Fresno State Aquatics Center, including a 163-131 win in 2014. The Bulldogs last dual meet win over the Spartans was on February 9, 2003 in Fresno.
"We are 100 percent ready to roll this weekend," Hopkins said.
At the Pacific Invitational earlier this season, Fresno State finished ahead of San Jose State in the standings, scoring 578 points for third place. The Spartans placed fourth out of five teams with 555 points.
San Jose State is led by senior captains, freestyle sprinter Brynne Beneke and freestyle distance swimmer Riley Spitser. Beneke has gathered seven wins for San Jose State in dual meets, four in the 100-yard freestyle and 3 in the 50-yard freestyle.
"At this point in the season consistency and sharpness is what it is all about," Hopkins said. "That's our expectation of them and their expectation of themselves and each other, that they are going to be performing consistently and at their best."
Totally 16 wins for the Spartans this season, Spitser has eight wins in the 500-yard freestyle, including wins at the Pacific Invitational and the A3 Performance Invitational, seven wins in the 1000-yard freestyle and a win in the 1650 at the Pacific invitational. The distance swimmer also posted an NCAA B Standard provisional qualifying time at the A3 Invitational with a time of 4:46.64.
"Our goals going into the meet is to have our swimmers have it be their fastest dual meet of the season and for our divers, have it be the best in season performance they have put up as we get ready to peak at the conference championships," Hopkins said.
In diving, sophomore Cari Reiswig leads the Spartans with the most wins on the springboard. Reiswig has collected seven wins in here second season, five wins in the 3-meter springboard and two wins in the 1-meter springboard. The sophomore diver has finished first in the 3-meter against California and Mountain West opponent San Diego State.
Sophomore Colleen Humel has five wins in duals while junior Taylor Solorio and freshman Marley Maluafiti each have 3 event wins. At the A3 Invitational, Humel posted NCAA B Standard provisional qualifying times in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke.
The meet between the conference rivals begins at 12:00 p.m. and will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.
by Brian S. Stanley, SJSU athletics media relations student assistant