CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming & diving teams dropped their dual meet openers to Xavier Thursday evening at the O'Connor Sports Center.

The CSU men and women fell by nearly identical scores of 162-98 and 161-97, respectively.

Junior Jason van der Touw continued his fast start to the season by winning each of the three individual events he contested Thursday.

Van der Touw started his day by placing first in the 200 freestyle in 1:41.47, well over two seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. He then proceeded to win the 100 free in 46.96 seconds and top the field in the 500 free in 4:42.13, again over two seconds ahead of the runner-up.

The next Viking behind van der Touw in the 200 free was junior Erwan Mahoudo, who was fifth in 1:46.33, while sophomore Jack MacDonald was the next Viking in the 100 free, placing fourth in 48.15 seconds.

Sophomore DJ Arslanian and freshman Dominik Niedzialek also won individual events for the CSU men Thursday.

Arslanian won the 100 butterfly in 51.66 seconds and also took third in the 200 fly in 1:55.89. He also was on both of CSU's best-finishing relays.

Niedzialek posted a trio of top-three individual finishes, highlighted by winning the 100 backstroke in 52.15 seconds. He also took second in the 200 back (1:54.88) and was third in the 200 IM (2:00.18).

Freshman Lee Moffett and junior Jared Stergar both tallied runner-up finishes on the evening, the former in the 1000 freestyle (10:00.64) and the latter in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.00).

MacDonald placed third in the 50 freestyle (22.01) and also swam on each of CSU's top relays. Niedzialek, Stergar and Arslanian joined MacDonald in the 200 medley relay to stop the clock in 1:34.52.

Sophomore Tyler Stevenson led off the 400 free relay and was followed by MacDonald, Arslanian and van der Touw to finish in 3:09.08. Stevenson also placed third in the 200 breaststroke in 2:14.56.

A trio of Viking women won individual events Thursday with junior Molly McNamara claiming two victories.

In her first individual swim of the night, McNamara won the 200 butterfly by nearly nine seconds, finishing in 2:03.60. After finishing second in the 100 butterfly by about a quarter-second (56.52), she finished strong by winning the 200 IM by well over three seconds (2:10.95).

Sophomore Gabriella Marinelli began her night by winning the 200 freestyle by well over two seconds, touching the wall in 1:55.56. She then took third in the 50 free (24.74) and placed second in the 100 free (53.79).

Senior Tobie Zeller won her only individual swim of the night while making her season debut. She placed first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.34. Freshman Alana Cartwright was the runner-up in the same race in 1:07.72. She also was CSU's top finisher in the 200 breaststroke, placing fourth in 2:29.57.

Freshman Lexie Kostelnik and sophomore Chuchu Yang both contributed runner-up finishes for CSU. The rookie was second in both the 1000 freestyle (10:40.71) and the 500 freestyle (5:12.18). Yang took second in the 200 backstroke (2:09.26) and was also CSU's top finisher in the 100, placing fourth in 1:00.42.

Senior Jamie VanDewerker led off both of CSU's highest placing relays.

Zeller, McNamara and sophomore Meghan Bobick followed in the 200 medley to finish in 1:48.19. In the 400 free relay, Bobick swam the second leg and was followed by freshman Irena Weclawiak and Marinelli to finish in 3:36.80.

Bobick took third in the 100 free in 54.36 seconds while freshman Dana Bender was third in the 200 IM (2:16.99).

Cleveland State will conclude its trip by facing Cincinnati in dual action Friday afternoon.