Jan. 15, 2005
CLEVELAND - A pair of school records changed hands on Saturday (Jan. 15) with senior Thatcher Carr and junior Kirsty McKechnie setting marks as Cleveland State battled Duquesne, Xavier and the Saint Francis women's team at Busbey Natatorium. Carr set the CSU record in one-meter diving, while McKechnie swam to a school record time in the 1,000 freestyle.
On the scoreboard, the Cleveland State men's team ousted the visiting Dukes and Musketeers, topping Duquesne 144.5-60.5 and Xavier 125-79. The women's squad scored a 130-57 win over Saint Francis, but fell in close competitions to Duquesne (108-94) and Xavier (112-88). Both teams posted 14 event wins between them.
In his first meet with the Vikings, Carr bested the school record by over 27 points, scoring a 349.40 in an exhibition showing. He also added a league season-best 344.90 in the 3-meter exhibition. Justin Sochor set the previous one-meter mark in 1995 with a 322.20.
"Thatcher hasn't dived for over two years, so it's great to see him get back into it so quickly," head diving coach Rich Karban said. "He's a very talented athlete and an excellent competitor. It's going to be fun to watch him this season."
After coming within just over a second of the 1,000 free record at Florida International a week ago, McKechnie topped Jen Henshaw's previous mark by nearly five seconds, swimming to a first-place finish in 10:27.29. Henshaw swam to a 10:32.24 in 1999.
"Kirsty showed signs of swimming like this in Florida," head women's coach Mike Lehto said, referring to last week's training trip to Biscayne Bay. "She was really fast all week, and was even faster today."
The Viking men's team collected eight wins and took advantage of their outstanding depth in ousting the two visiting schools.
Senior Luke Wilkens tallied two wins of his own, swimming the 200 free in 1:42.80 and the 200 fly in 1:53.97. A trio of juniors scored wins of their own, with Pieter Pelser swimming the 200 back in 1:54.04, Daniel Thomasson completing the 100 free in47.95 and Adam Wroblewski swimming to a season-best 21.82 in the 50 free. First-year swimmers Bjorn Schantz and Dave Duecker scored wins as well, with Schantz swimming the 500 free in 4:43.25 and Duecker winning the 200 breast in 2:09.62.
"I wasn't sure what to expect coming off of a tough training week, but they got exceedingly better as the meet went on," men's head coach Wally Morton said. "I really liked our enthusiasm and how we came together and supported one another. We won a lot of close races. We didn't have our fastest times, but everyone stepped up and performed. It was a total team effort."
The men's squad also went 1-2 in the 400 medley relay, swimming to times of 3:32.69 and 3:33.21, respectively.
The women's team added six wins of their own in topping the Red Flash and hung tough with Duquesne and Xavier until the final few events.
In addition to her record-setting performance in the 1,000 free, McKechnie scored a win in the 500 freestyle, swimming the trip in 5:08.52, and posted a season-best 2:12.03 in the 200 fly. Senior Samantha Jones picked up a pair of wins as well, tallying a 2:11.54 in the 200 IM and a 2:08.60 in the 200 back. Sophomore Marianne Lionell added a win in the 50 free with a time of 24.28.
"It was good to see us respond this way coming off of the training trip," Lehto said. "This was a good effort. I felt we swam really well and came out of this with a positive feeling about the way we competed."
The women's 400 medley relay team of Jones, Lionell, Marlene Przykling and Deanna Raedel added a win with a time of 4:01.90.
The men's team heads to Oxford, Ohio for a dual meet with Miami on Jan. 22 before returning to host Notre Dame and Canisius at 5:00 p.m. on Jan. 28. The women's team will remain idle until the following day (Jan. 29) when both teams host Valparaiso on Alumni Day beginning at 2:00 p.m.
