CLEVELAND, Ohio- On day two of the HL Swimming and Diving Championships, the Cleveland State men's swimming and diving team moved up into second, earning 259 points heading into day three.
The Vikings had top swimming performances from Kyle Riordan in the 500 free with a third place time of 4:27.92. In the 50 free, Alex Lewis captured a first place finish with a fast time of 19.81. Lewis' 19.81 was an NCAA Division I B-cut time that could be good enough to qualify for the NCAA National Championships. Coming in third just behind Lewis in the 50 free was Adam Ingledew. Ingledew finished third with a time of 20.34. The Vikings topped off day two with an impressive league record time of 3:13.73 in the 400 medley relay. Leading the relay team was Al Shillito, Nathan Grant, Justin Kermack, and Alex Lewis.
Head Coach Wally Morton spoke about the men's performance on the second day of the HL Conference Championships. "I was very pleased with finals tonight. The key to every meet is getting as many people in the consolation heats and in the finals. We clearly could've done a better job this morning, but we still had some great performances this morning positioning people in where they needed to be and that includes diving. We clearly could've done a better job this morning, but we still had some great performances this morning position people in where they needed to be and that includes diving. It's so important in the preliminaries to dive well and to swim well. Both of those things presented some challenges for us in the finals, but the team came back in the finals and performed extremely well," said Morton.
"The men are in a solid second place. They had a great night of racing. Alex Lewis went under 19 again. He swam in the 50 free three times in the last 24 hours and all three of those times are the fastest times in the history of the 50 free at Cleveland State. By any definition, Alex Lewis has been absolutely great in the 50 free. Kyle Riordan had the third fastest time in the 500 free in the school's history, going 4:27.92. He started off as a five-minute freestyler at the beginning of the year. His lifetime best was over 4:40 before this year, which was at a different school. He had major knee surgery and he had to sit out the entire last year. To come back and swim the way he has is nothing less than sensational. I was very pleased on what Kyle Riordan did with his third place finish. Nathan Grant came in sixth in the 200 IM and was two one-hundredths of a second off the school record. We also won the 400 medley relay and the 400 medley relay was a school record and a conference record. We had really great splits by all four people in the relay. We had a 49 flat in the back stroke that was really solid. It's really great to see Al (Shillito) come around. He had the fastest back in the water. The breast stroke was phenomenally good. By any definition, that was a really great relay and a great way to end the session. It was an incredible night of swimming and the swimmers that were lighting it up was Alex Lewis and continues a magical season. Nathan Grant has been consistent all year in all of the meets."
Cleveland State will be back in the pool on Friday for the third day of the HL Championships beginning at 10:00 a.m. with prelims. The finals will take place at 5:30 p.m. The scheduled events are as follows for Friday, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, men's 1-meter diving, and the 800 free relay.
