Feb. 26, 2009
BROWN DEER, Wis. - -
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
The Cleveland State University Vikings continued their assault on the Vikings record book during the second day of the 2009 Horizon League Championships. In five events, the Vikings added six new entries into the All-Time Top-10 list including two school records. After day two of the four-day event, the Vikings are in second place with 258 points.
"We had a solid day and we're looking forward to tomorrow," head coach Wally Morton said. "We had some really solid performances today and we have some outstanding swimmers seeded high that will race tomorrow."
Mark deSwardt opened the meet with a win in the 500 free, giving the Vikings the first four wins of the meet after they swept all three events on Day One. deSwardt bettered his season-best time with a swim of 4:26.00 and moved into No. 2 on the CSU all-time list. It was deSwardt's 10th 500 free win of the year and his second conference title in two days. Pieter Ritz also tallied points for the Vikings, finishing 13th (4:40.46).
In the 200 IM, three Vikings recorded back-to-back Top-5 finishes. Jakub Dobies swam his season best 1:51.58 to finish third overall while Marko Milenkovic's swim of 1:51.79 was the sixth-fastest time in school history and good enough for fourth place. In 1:52.70, Deni Gasparin picked up a ninth-place finish with his best time of the season. During the preliminary swims, Volkmar Baur finished in his season-best time of 2:01.94 (18th).
The Vikings showed considerable strength in the men's 50 free with three all-time Top-10 times. Stephen Grove and Mike Marsico were neck-and-neck for third and fourth place, respectively while Keith Everhart finished 10th overall. Grove entered the event with the second-fastest time in school history (20.41) and set a new school and Horizon League record during the preliminary heat (20.09) before logging a time of 20.33 in the final. Marsico and Everhart also swam their way into CSU's Top-10 list. Marsico went a 20.48 for the third-fastest swim in school history and Everhart's time of 20.71 is the fourth-fastest time. During the preliminary heat, Travis Lombardozzi also swam a season best of 21.45 (24th).
The 400 medley relay team kept the Vikings solidly in second place in the rankings at the conclusion of Day Two. The team recorded a runner-up finish and new school record of 3:16.72. The Vikings were just out-touched by UIC (3:15.78). Both CSU and UIC broke the previous Horizon League record of 3:18.55 set by the Cleveland State team in 2008. Todd Winchell led off the relay followed by Dobies, Grove and Marsico.
Matt DiMasso kicked off the first Horizon League Championships of his career in the 1-meter diving competition. DiMasso picked up an 8th place finish with a lifetime best score of 235.50.
The Horizon League Championships continue Friday and Saturday. Friday's events include the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 800 free relay and women's 1-meter diving. Preliminary swimming heats begin at 10:30 a.m. with preliminary diving starting at 1:30 p.m. Final events begin at 6:30 p.m. Central time. On-demand videos of the final heats as well as live blogs are available off the Horizon League website (www.horizonleague.org).
