CLEVELAND, Ohio- The Cleveland State men's swimming and diving team defeated Wright State, 181-107 on Saturday afternoon at Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
The Vikings (7-4-0, 2-0-0 HL) had first place finishes in the 200 Medley Relay. The Vikings were led by Al Shillito, Nathan Grant, Justin Kermack, and Alex Lewis. CSU posted a top time of 1:34.06. Patrick Walsh had a close first place finish in the 1,000 freestyle with a top time of 9:46.63. Shillito continued to perform well in the pool taking first in the 100 back with a wall touch of 51.43. Grant tallied a second first place win in the 100 breast with a top time of 58.56. Kermack posted a second first place finish in the 200 butterfly with a top time of 1:52.71.
In the 50 yard freestyle the Vikings went one, two, and three. Alex Lewis controlled the field with a top time of 20.87. Ingledew added a second place finish with a time of 21.56 and Josh Nordike came in third with a time of 21.86. In the 1-meter dive Danny Roberts notched a top score of 320.33 and also posted a first place score in the 3-meter dive with a score of 332.25. In the 100 freestyle Lewis added his third win of the day with a top time of 46.47. Shillito adds a third top finish, this time winning the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:53.70. In the 200 breast Grant earned a third first place finish with a time of 2:07.31. In the 100 butterfly Shillito put up his fourth first place finish coming in the 100 butterfly with a top time of 50.93. The men topped the win off with a top time of 3:08.94 in the 400 free relay.
Head Coach Wally Morton spoke about the team's back-to-back wins coming against Wright State. "The team had two convincing wins both on Friday and Saturday. I'm very excited about that. Our women almost all of the events for the second straight day in a row, almost convincingly on almost winning every event, and the men very similar to winning almost all of the events, winning close races," said Morton.
Danny Roberts had an outstanding weekend with four wins. Steve Schillero is right behind him and is diving very well also. On the swimming side Al Shillito, Alex Lewis, Nathan Grant have been doing very well and had an outstanding weekend. On the freshman side Patrick Walsh did really well in his three out of four events this weekend. We are still really excited about this year and have a very tough test against Oakland at their place along with Xavier next weekend, but am happy with our progress."
Other key contributors that had impressive swimming performances were junior Kyle Riordan who finished third with a time of 9:56.96. Robert Tolson had an excellent swim in the 200 free finishing second with a time of 1:46.62. Adam Ingledew finished behind Tolson with a time of 1:47.09. Ryan Blankenship finished runner-up in the 100 back with a time of 52.86. Brian Ferro finished third in the 100 breast with a time of 59.72. Mauricio Gonzalez took second in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:57.47. Blankenship added his second runner-up finish of the day with a time of 1:56.52 in the 200 back. Stephen Schillero finished second behind Roberts with a superb score of 313.73.
Cleveland State will be back in the pool on Saturday (Jan.25) as the Vikings will travel to Rochester, Michigan in a tri-meet against conference opponent Oakland and will also swim against Xavier. Swimming events will begin at 1:00 p.m.
