CHICAGO, Ill. - The Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming and diving teams continued action in the Horizon League Championships Thursday at Flames Natatorium with four swimming events per gender and men's 1-meter diving.
One of the most successful events for Cleveland State Thursday was the men's 200 IM as two Vikings finished among the top four.
Sophomore Tommi Wolst was the runner-up in 1:48.23, a NCAA 'B' qualifying standard. Classmate Jared Stergar took fourth in 1:49.55, bettering his previous personal best by over 1.5 seconds. Sophomore Addison Kaufmann finished 13th in 1:53.20.
Wolst also led off the Vikings' 200 freestyle relay team that took second in 1:21.69. He was followed by seniors Phillip Brittain, Robert Tolson and Declan McLaughlin. Britain had the fastest split of the quartet, 20.16, while Wolst had a new personal best in the 50 free with his lead split of 20.56 seconds.
The CSU women finished third in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:33.16. Freshman Gabriella Marinelli, junior Jamie VanDewerker, sophomore Ashleigh Bennett and senior Anna Evans comprised the group. Evans rallied the Vikings from a lower position while anchoring the relay, as she posted the fastest split of the quartet (22.64).
One day after helping the Vikings to a new school record in the 800 freestyle relay, freshman Tyler Stevenson finished fifth in the 500 freestyle in 4:33.35.
Sophomore Molly McNamara, fresh off helping CSU to a new school record in the 200 medley relay, claimed 10th in the women's 200 IM in 2:04.77.
Cleveland State had three scorers in both genders of the 50 freestyle.
On the women's side, senior Anna Evans led the way by finishing sixth in 23.63 seconds, only .01 seconds behind the personal best she posted in the morning preliminaries. Junior Jamie VanDewerker won the consolation final in 23.72 seconds while freshman Gabriella Marinelli was 12th overall in 23.90 seconds.
Senior Robert Tolson was CSU's best 50 free finisher on the men's side, ending up in eighth in 20.80 seconds. Classmates Phillip Brittain and Declan McLaughlin were 12th and 16th, respectively, in 20.77 seconds and 21.08 seconds. Brittain had posted a personal best of 20.69 seconds in the preliminaries.
After missing the 1-meter diving final by fewer than two points, sophomore Curtis Roden defended his top seed in the consolation final, which he won with 250.10 points. Roden's highest-scoring dive of the day was a forward 2.5 somersault pike that netted him 48.10 points.
Freshman Antony Styrt and sophomore Anthony Haywood both posted season-best point totals in the diving consolation final to finish 10th and 12, respectively. Styrt scored 246.30 while Haywood checked in with 232.30 points.
Sophomore Claudia Zido just missed earning points for CSU in the women's 500 free as she finished in 5:06.53, less than a quarter-second from qualifying for the evening session.
After two days of action, the CSU men sit in third place with 190 points while the women are sixth with 140.50 points.
Cleveland State continues action in the Championships Friday with five individual swimming events, women's 1-meter diving and the 400 medley relay.