KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- Eight Cleveland State Vikings will be participating in the U.S. Winter National Championships beginning on Thursday, competing against Olympic swimming household names, such as Missy Franklin. The 2013 U.S. Winter National Championships will be held at the Allen Jones Aquatic Center at the University of Tennessee.
On the men's side, Alex Lewis will be swimming at U.S. Nationals for the fourth straight time for CSU. For Justin Kermack and Al Shillito, this will be the third time they will be competing in swimming events at the Winter National Championships. Nathan Grant will return back for the second straight year, as he competed as a freshman last season for the Vikings. For Adam Ingledew and Gage Alleman, this marks their first trip to U.S. Nationals.
On the women's side, senior Alex Johansson and freshman Madisen Tretter will represent the Green and White. Johansson has competed all four years at the prestigious swimming event. Tretter will get her first honor in her swimming collegiate career to swim against top tier competition. Johansson had a great performance in the pool last year at U.S. Nationals, as she took home a 46th place finish in the 50 free finishing with a time of 23.43.
Last year, Lewis and Shillito were part of the 4x50 relay team, taking home eighth place in the preliminaries with a time of 1:22.00 to move on to the finals. Kermack swam his best time of the year (1:52.61) in the 200 IM placing 56th.