Jan. 15, 2011
Contact: Dan Carr
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Viking men's swimming and diving team closed out its stretch of two meets in two days by splitting with Xavier and Oakland. CSU beat the Musketeers, 167.5-63.5, but was edged out in a close meet by Oakland, 128-113.
The Vikings were led by standout performances from Josh Gonzalez in the diving events and Mark de Swardt in the swimming events.
Gonzalez won the day's first event, the 3-meter dive, with a score of 326.78. The score qualified him for the NCAA Zone cut, which means he will have the chance to compete for a trip to the NCAA championships. Gonzalez followed that up with an equally impressive 289.35 output in the 1-meter dive, taking first in that event as well.
de Swardt also went undefeated on the day. He picked up wins in the 1,000 free (9:25.98) and the 500 free (4:32.59), two events he normally excels in, but also won the 200 IM (1:52.99), an event he normally doesn't swim.
"[Mark] had his game face on today," head coach Wally Morton said. "He's a tough, hard-nosed competitor who takes no prisoners. He's very versatile and can do all the strokes, which is something people don't always realize about him.
"He was the Viking warrior of the meet."
Although CSU finished no better than second in most of the day's events, they ended the meet on a very positive note, with Deni Gasparin winning the 100 breast (56.70) and the 200 free relay team taking first in 1:23.19.
"That was a very solid performance in the relay," Morton said. "It was great way to finish the meet against some solid teams."
The meet concluded a very busy two week period for the Vikings. CSU participated in an intensive training trip to Puerto Rico last week and then swam against Notre Dame on Friday (Jan. 14) only a couple days after returning.
"Given the fact that they've been together for two weeks and were in such a torn down state, I am extremely pleased with our performance today," Morton said.
Cleveland State will now have a week to prepare for its next test, a meet with Horizon League rival Wright State in the Vikings' final regular season home meet of the season. The competition at the Busbey Natatorium will take place on Saturday (Jan. 22) beginning at 1:00 p.m.
