Fresno State Swimmer Profile: Ugne Mazutaityte
When students from different countries come to Fresno State, you might expect them to say that their favorite thing about being here could be the food or entertainment.
“My favorite part is when no one can say my last name,” Ugne Mazutaityte says.
Mazutaityte, 19, is from Lithuania. This is her second year at Fresno State. Her last name is pronounced mah-shu-ta-TEE-tah.
Imagine moving from your home to a school in a country you’ve never visited. Pretty scary, right?
“I would notice how they would get in a conversation and talk at school about something I don’t know. And that’s how I grew up with,” Mazutaityte says. “Let’s say cheerios, like a cereal that I’ve never eaten because I didn’t have that choice back in Lithuania. We don’t have this product. Because in here it’s, respect, it’s family, it’s the American Dream. Back home it’s not like this.”
It seemed strange to Mazutaityte at first. But as time went on she started to enjoy the new and different.
“I can see the difference but I like it here,” she says. “I can see the different cultures and since Fresno is so diverse, I can see everyone from all the different parts of the world. And it’s interesting, and you kind of learn from it. So it’s cool.”
Think again about living in a different country and going to school, but now imagine being a student-athlete, too. Mazutaityte is on the Fresno State women’s swimming and diving team. She specializes in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke. Mazutaityte began swimming when she was just five years old. It was something she was born into.
“My dad he was a head coach for the Lithuanian national team and my mom was my coach,” Mazutaityte says. “So the pool was a place where all my dad, my mom, my grandmother, my grandfather would be.”
As time went on, Mazutaityte was able to capture two Lithuanian national records–one in the 200 backstroke and one in the 100 backstroke. She left her mark in her home country, but what about at Fresno State?
This past year she won the 200 back and took third in the 100 back at the Mountain West conference championships. She was named freshman of the year of the Mountain West Championships.
“I remember when I touched the wall it was something like oh OK, oh now we’re talking,” Mazutaityte says. “Now that’s the next year, and the next year that all the competitions, big stuff is happening to me.”
She was also the only Fresno State swimmer this past season to compete at the NCAAs
“It was a huge honor to be the only Fresno State swimmer to come and be like yeah I’m from Fresno State and I’m here,” Mazutaityte says.
Because of the success she had in the past year, she’s someone who her team looks up to. Teammates like Kali Conlon say Mazutaityte is a source of motivation during practice.
“Ugne is always pushing me at practice,” Conlon says. “She’s really good at freestyle and backstroke, so I like pace off of her a lot of ith freestyle like when we have to do longer sets,” said Conlon. “Also her backstroke is so fast so that she’ll do backstroke while others will do freestyle.
However, when Mazutaityte first came to the U.S., it took some getting used to swim practices. For starters, Mazutaityte was not used to the camaraderie that came with being on an American team.
“Because I came from Lithuania, where we still had a team, but since Lithuania is so small so you would get to see your friends that live in a different city. You don’t really have that team-building thing,” Mazutaityte says. “Where here we have team retreats, team building, we have songs, we have a team cheer.”
But thanks to those team building exercises and retreats, Mazutaityte has gotten really close to the other Bulldog swimmers and can’t imagine life without them. Her teammates have helped make it easier to adjust to a new place and different norms.
Samantha Giannetta is one of those teammates who welcomed Mazutaityte and helped her adapt to life in the U.S. from driving her to Target to get groceries to giving her tips on the correct way to exit the pool after a race.
“When she first came, we had to tell her you can’t go out of the sides. You have to get out in your lane or else you’ll get disqualified. So it was like an adjustment there,” Giannetta says.
A lot of little things like that were different in American swimming compared to Lithuanian swimming.
“It’s different in Lithuania because they swim indoors, while we swim outdoors. It’s kind of different for backstrokers because if you swim indoors you can look at the ceiling, so you know that you are going straight,” Giannetta says.
While there were some things she was forced to learn, she is also one to try new things and get a taste of different cultures. When she came to Fresno State she decided to give the vegan lifestyle a try and live solely on a plant-based diet. She was also determined to learn a new language.
“I’m taking Japanese. Pretty tough not going to lie. Broke me a couple of times, but I really respect my professor,” said Mazutaityte. “She’s really tough, and that’s what I really like about her.”
Mazutaityte’s teammates and coaches were surprised that she was learning Japanese.
“All of us were just like, ‘What?’ All of us typically here, we’re like business majors and athletic majors and just revolves around stuff that we do,” Giannetta says.
It was tough at first, but the more she worked at it, the better she got. Studying and schoolwork are things that help Mazutaityte get her mind off swimming. It’s a way she is able to relax and reset.
However, back in Lithuania, there are some who have the mindset that swimming should come first, then education. People thought that when Mazutaityte moved to the U.S., she would start studying more and become slower in her times. But those perceptions didn’t seem to derail her from getting an education. She’s seen what happens to those who turned pro at an early age.
“They would compete for like 10 years, and then they would just like not know what to do with their life and basically not live a happy life,” Mazutaityte says. “Not knowing who they really are. So studying is really important to realize who I am and realize who I want to be, what I want in life.”
Even though school is pretty important to her,Mazutaityte still has a lot of expectations and goals in the next couple of years. This December she plans on competing in the World Short-Course Championships in Canada. In summer 2017, she wants to represent Lithuania at the World Long-Course Championships and be able to swim in a semi-final. But an even bigger goal is to be able to help push her team into the top six or top five at the next Mountain West Conference Championship.
Mazutaityte is optimistic about the new and returning swimmers on her team this year.
“Our team is just getting better and better every second,” Mazutaityte says. “So it’s really nice to see as a team to get better and as a team to achieve.”
Her overall objective when 2020 comes around is to be able to compete in her very first Olympics in Tokyo.
“That’s the reason I’m learning Japanese. That is my ultimate goal.