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Viking Men Break Two CSU Records on the Final Day of the Horizon League Championships

Viking Men Break Two CSU Records on the Final Day of the Horizon League Championships
Posted: Feb 26, 2011

Feb. 26, 2011

Complete Results From The 2011 Horizon League Swimming & Diving Championships
Saturday's Final Results

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Contact: Dan Carr

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Two Cleveland State records fell, Mark de Swardt had another outstanding day, and the Viking men's swimming and diving team ended the 2010-11 season with a third place finish at the Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday (Feb. 26).

de Swardt cemented his position as one of the top swimmers in the Horizon League by earning the conference swimmer of the year award. The junior won 25 individual races throughout the year and three more during the conference championships. The wins include a victory in the 1,650 freestyle (15.23.93) on Saturday, the ninth individual win in nine tries in de Swardt's career at the Horizon League Championships.

"In three years he competed in nine events and he's won all of his races," said head coach Wally Morton of de Swardt's performance. "What more can you say? He really deserved, in every way, to be the conference swimmer of the year and the conference swimmer of the meet."

He also won the 500 free (4:29.80) and the 1,000 free (9:06.34) this year to earn the title Co-Performer of the Meet, and award de Swardt shared with Wright State's Hermanus Botha.

Justin Kermack was also honored by the Horizon League as its Newcomer of the Year in the closing ceremony of the championships. The freshman qualified for the finals in all three races he swam, including a second place finish in the 400 IM (3:59.05) on Friday (Feb. 25), a sixth place showing in the 200 IM (1:51.97) on Thursday (Feb. 24) and a fourth place result in the 200 fly (1:48.40) on Saturday.

Kermack's time in the the 200 fly is a new school record, breaking the previous mark of 1:48.65. That mark was actually also set by Kermack earlier this year.

"We have a great future ahead of us, and Justin Kermack is going to lead the way," Morton said. "He's just going to get better and better as he continues to swim."

The other CSU record to be broken on Saturday came in the 100 free. Berry Thompson finished in a tie for third with Jake Kalinowski of Milwaukee at 44.32. That time breaks the old mark of 44.53, set by Jakub Dobies in 2009.

Alex Lewis also added his name to the CSU 100 free record list. The freshman won the consolation finals, finishing ninth overall, in 45.54, which stands as the eighth best time ever by Viking.

Cleveland State picked up its final victory of the championships in the 200 breast. Deni Gasparin won the race in 2:00.53, a new Horizon League Championship record, besting Dobies' time of 2:00.92 at the 2007 championships. The time was also better than Gasparin's previous personal best of 2:01.02, the second best time in CSU history in the 200 breast. Gasparin still holds second place, just behind Dobies' 2:00.43 mark, set in 2007.

Brian Ferro also competed in the finals of the 200 breast. The freshman took fifth in 2:03.41.

Thompson and Lewis cracked the record books again in the 400 free relay, teaming with Justin Hill and Mike Marsico. The squad finished fourth in 3:00.57, the second best time in that event in school history.

"We had over 90% of our swimmers post personal best times (at this year's championships," Morton said. "They did a great job and they really swam extremely fast."

The day's other swimming event was the 200 backstroke. Zvonimir Androic (1:51.11) and Colin Hanner (1:54.72) led the way for the Vikings, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.

Matt DiMasso led the Vikings in the 3-meter dive, the last diving event of the championships. DiMasso finished in fifth with a score of 252.45.

The Vikings accumulated 625.5 points over the course of the Horizon League Championships, good for third overall. Milwaukee won the meet, scoring 820 points. UIC took second (793) while Wright State (491), Green Bay (481) and Valparaiso rounded out the rest of the field.

"We always want to be in the hunt to win," Morton said. "I feel like we gave ourselves a chance to win, and some things just didn't go our way, but we were definitely in the hunt."

This concludes Cleveland State's 2010-11 season, in which the Vikings won 12 dual meets and went 4-0 against Horizon League competition for the first time since 2003-2004.