Jan. 14, 2011
Contact: Dan Carr
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Notre Dame handed the Cleveland State men's swimming and diving team just its second loss of the year on Friday (Jan. 14), as the Vikings fell, 162-81, at the Busbey Natatorium.
"We recognize that Notre Dame is one of the top teams on our schedule, probably second behind Ohio State," head coach Wally Morton said. "We knew this would be a tough meet and I commend them for coming and swimming well."
Notre Dame won nine of the 13 events, including sweeping both diving events and both relays.
Despite the loss, Morton said he was pleased with his team's effort. The meet was the Vikings' first of 2011 and came after the team's return from an intensive week of training in Puerto Rico was delayed by the recent snow.
"Overall, I am very pleased with the team's performance," Morton said. "Under those circumstances, I thought we swam very well."
Mark de Swardt had one of the more impressive individual performances on the day, winning all three events in which he competed. His 9:18.49 time in the 1,000 free was nearly a full 30 seconds faster than Notre Dame's Ryan Belecanech, who came in second at 9:48.46. de Swardt also won the 200 fly (1:50.85) and the 500 free (4:34.51).
"It doesn't matter who the opponent is, Mark is going to compete," Morton said. "He doesn't care who he's going against, he just looks them in the eye and swims his hardest. He had a really good meet today against some very good swimmers."
Justin Hill was CSU's other winner of the day, placing first in the 50 free with a time of 21.05. Berry Thompson placed second in that event (21.08).
Alex Lewis turned in a great performance in the 400 medley relay. His splits of 22.69 and 49.72 in the butterfly portion were the fastest of anyone competing in that section of the race. His relay squad came in second at 3:24.74.
Josh Gonzalez and Matt DiMasso led the Vikings in the diving events. Gonzalez scored 290.35 in the 1-meter (good for third place) and 308.03 in the 3-meter (fourth) while DiMasso scored 247.50 in the 1-meter (fifth) and 239.40 in the 3-meter (sixth).
The loss was the Vikings' first home defeat since falling to Oakland, 173.5-118.5, on Jan. 16, 2009. CSU had defeated 16 teams in its eight home meets since that defeat before falling to the Fighting Irish on Friday.
"We're always disappointed when we lose, but there was a lot to build on with this meet," Morton said. "We had some good performances today, and now we turn our attention to Oakland and Xavier tomorrow."
Cleveland State will be back at Busbey on Saturday (Jan. 15), hosting Oakland and Xavier in a 1:00 p.m. meet. The CSU women will also compete against Duquesne that day. The meet will serve as Alumni Day, with both swimming and diving teams inviting past member to return to campus to see the latest generation of Vikings in action.
