CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming & diving teams opened action in the sixth annual Magnus Cup Friday, as the CSU men highlighted the day by winning both relays contested inside the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
With help from their relay results, the CSU men sprung into the lead. The Viking men have 505.5 points, which is 144 points clear of second-place George Washington. The CSU women are in a solid third place of 15 teams with 314 points.
The Viking men claimed first place in both the 200 freestyle relay that began the finals session and the 400 medley relay that closed competition for the day. Sophomore DJ Arslanian and junior Sean Mulvin swam on both winning relays for Cleveland State.
Arslanian led off the winning 200 free relay and was followed by sophomores Jack MacDonald and Tyler Stevenson with Mulvin anchoring the group. The quartet finished in 1:22.78. CSU's 'B' relay consisted of juniors Jared Stergar and Jason van der Touw and seniors Patrick Tippen and Grant Wethington, as they finished in 1:24.67.
Van der Touw led off CSU's winning 400 medley relay and was followed by Stergar, Arslanian and Mulvin. That group combined to touch the wall in 3:20.49. CSU's 'B' relay took sixth in the event in 3:24.60—freshman Dominik Niedzialek led off and was followed by Stevenson, Wethington and MacDonald.
The best individual event for the CSU men was the 500 freestyle as Vikings claimed two of the top three spots and five of the top 12. Niedzialek was second in 4:29.64 and van der Touw was third in 4:32.28, as both dropped over three seconds from their time in the preliminaries. Niedzialek became one of the top five performers in program history with his effort.
Freshman Lee Moffett was sixth in the 500 free (4:37.10), junior Erwan Mahoudo was 11th (4:37.45) and freshman Alec Bowie was 12th (4:37.63). Mahoudo dropped over six seconds from the prelims to the finals.
Arslanian posted the top time in the 50 freestyle in the morning prelims with a new personal best of 20.92 seconds. He was not quite able to carry that over to the final as he settled for third (20.97). MacDonald was seventh (21.23) and Mulvin was 10th (21.41), as each of those Vikings also set new personal bests in the morning prelims.
Stevenson, Niedzialek and Stergar finished seventh through ninth, respectively, in the 200 IM in 1:53.95, 1:54.00 and 1:54.43. Junior Addison Kaufmann (1:55.13), freshman Timothy Kubacki (1:55.48), junior MacJilton Lewis (1:55.56) and sophomore Spencer Tretter (1:57.07) all scored in the event for CSU as well.
Tippen took third in the 50 breaststroke in 26.20 seconds while Tretter was 12th in 27.44 seconds.
Freshman Matt Akers dominated in the 3-meter diving preliminaries as he posted the top score of 318.10 points. He scored at least 50 points on five of six dives and was fewer than two points shy of the NCAA Zones qualifying standard. However, he would take fourth in the finals after scoring 279.65 points. Junior Curtis Roden was second in the finals with a strong finish, as he scored 297.85 points. Roden scored 65.80 points on his final dive, a forward 3.5 somersault tuck.
The CSU women were led by a strong effort in the 400 medley relay that nearly saw the Vikings break a school record.
Junior Cassandra Oltman, senior Tobie Zeller, junior Molly McNamara and sophomore Gabriella Marinelli combined to stop the clock in 3:44.82, just .12 seconds off the program record. CSU's 'B' relay of senior Jamie VanDewerker, freshmen Gracyn McQueary and Alana Cartwright and sophomore Meghan Bobick finished ninth in 3:52.08.
All four CSU women that swam the 50 breaststroke finished among the top nine. Zeller was fourth (29.57), McQueary was fifth (29.75), redshirt senior Madisen Tretter was eighth (30.11) and freshman Libby Smith was ninth (30.23).
VanDewerker and Marinelli led the way for Cleveland State in the 50 freestyle in 23.80 and 23.85 seconds, respectively. Junior Ashleigh Bennett (24.41), Oltman (24.43) and McQueary (24.45) finished among the top 26 in the event that featured 125 competitors. Both Oltman and McQueary posted new personal bests in the event.
McNamara and Cartwright placed sixth and ninth, respectively, in the 200 IM in 2:03.67 and 2:05.94. Cartwright smashed her personal best entering the day by over four seconds and became one of the top five performers in the event in program history.
Marinelli, who was CSU's top finisher in the 500 freestyle (5:03.53), led off CSU's top-finishing 200 free relay. She was followed by VanDewerker, McQueary and Oltman, as that quartet finished fifth in 1:35.30. Not far behind was CSU's 'B' relay as Cartwright, Bennet, Bobick and junior Claudia Zido took eighth in 1:36.51.
Freshman Erica Henrichsen led CSU on the 1-meter board by taking eighth (203.15) while junior Maggie Stebick was ninth (195.85).
The Magnus Cup continues Saturday with five more individual swimming events, two more relays and the conclusion of the diving portion of the meet.