Jan. 9, 2005
Biscayne Bay, Fla. - After spending the past week training in Biscayne Bay, Fla., the Cleveland State men's swimming and diving team placed first at the Florida International Golden Panther Invitational on Sunday (Jan. 9), scoring 589.5 points to beat out Brown (568), Emory (318.5 and George Washington (281). The women's squad finished third out of five teams, tallying 290.5 points. Both teams will continue to train for the next four days before returning to Cleveland on Thursday (Jan. 13).
Senior Luke Wilkens picked up a pair of wins for the men's teams, swimming top times in the 200 freestyle (1:47.40) and in the 100 fly (52.26). Junior Pieter Pelser added a win in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.61.
Sophomore Marianne Lionell won the only individual event for the women, swimming the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.98. The 200 medley relay team of Samantha Jones, Lionell, Marlene Przykling and Lesley Jones opened up the tournament with a top time of 1:53.40.
"Both teams have been working very hard all week and are real tired," men's head coach Wally Morton said. "We actually practiced right before the meet and again following it, so, in a way, I'm surprised we did as well as we did. But it was a good team effort. Our depth really helped us out."
The Vikings have been training twice a day since arriving in Florida on Jan. 4, working both in the pool and on dry ground.
CSU returns to Busbey Natatorium on Saturday (Jan. 15) when they host Duquesne and Xavier, as well as the St. Francis women's team, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
