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Swimming Hosts Two Meets In Two Days

Swimming Hosts Two Meets In Two Days
Posted: Jan 11, 2011

Jan. 11, 2011

Contact: Dan Carr

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SETTING THE SCENE: The Viking swimming and diving teams resume their schedule with back-to-back home meets this weekend. The men's team will host Notre Dame on Friday (Jan. 14) at 2:00 p.m. Both the men and women will then swim against Oakland and Xavier on Saturday (Jan. 15) at 1:00 p.m., with the men also competing against Duquesne. Both teams are coming off successful fall seasons, with the men ranked fourth in the latest mid-major poll and the women 15th.

LAST TIME IN THE WATER: Cleveland State resumed its season with a winter training trip to Puerto Rico, culminating in the San Juan Dual Relay Challenge vs. Connecticut. Below are recaps of the Vikings' performances.

Men (9-1-1)
San Juan Dual Relay Challenge - 1st
Mark de Swardt helped the Vikings to first-place finishes in the 400 medley and 800 freestyle relays as Cleveland State won the San Juan Dual Relay Challenge.

Women (11-1)
The team of Alice Sommerville, Gretchen Hestley, Alexandra Johansson and Christine Kopacko won the 200 freestyle relay, but CSU finished as the runner-up in the 400 medley and 800 freestyle relays to finish the challenge in second place.

PREVIEWING THE MEN: Mark de Swardt, owner of two Horizon League records (in the 1,000 and 1,650 freestyle events) leads a balanced group of swimmers that expect to win CSU's first conference championship since the 2005-06 season. The junior's best times lead the conference in five events this season: the 1,650 free (15:23.90), 1,000 free (9.23.88), 500 free (4:29.05), the 400 IM (4:00.89) and the 200 fly (1:51.08). de Swardt has also won 13 individual events this year. Berry Thompson has emerged as one of the team's top sprinters in his sophomore season. He leads the Horizon League in the 100 free (44.84) and has been honored as the conference swimmer of the week three times this fall. Senior Deni Gasparin and freshman Brian Ferro have combined to win 10 breaststroke events while senior Zvonimir Androic has led the team in the backstroke events with five wins. Junior Josh Gonzalez, last year's Horizon League Championship Diver of the Meet, has consistently improved his scores in every meet this season, culminating with his taking second in the 3-meter (276.65) and the platform (228.55) at the Northwestern TYR Invitational.

PREVIEWING THE WOMEN: Sophomores Alice Sommerville and Joanna Olsson have been on a tear this season, giving the Vikings reason to believe that the program's first Horizon League championship could come this season. The two have broken one Horizon League and five Cleveland State relay records this year and have combined to set four individual school records. Both were on the 400 free relay squad that set the conference record (3:24.51) at the Northwestern TYR Invitational. Olsson also broke the Horizon League record in the 400 IM that weekend and set new school marks in the 500 free and 200 IM, while Sommerville broke the CSU record in the 100 fly in the opening meet of the season. Junior Carys Behn also had a fine fall season, being a member of all five record-breaking relays and winning 10 individual events. The Vikings have also benefited from a strong freshman class, highlighted by Alexandra Johansson and Christine Kopacko. Johansson was a member of the record-setting 200 free, 400 free, 800 free and 400 medley relays while Kopacko helped set a new CSU mark in the 200 medley.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S HEAD COACH
Wally Morton (Miami '70)
AT CSU: As men's coach: 274-143-2 (30th year); As women's coach: 37-25-0 (4th year)
With 14 seasons of double-digit victories under his belt, and over 300 wins overall, Wally Morton has had nothing but success during his lengthy tenure with Cleveland State.The 2009-10 season resulted in 14 victories, tying the school record for the second time in his 29 years as head coach of the men's swimming and diving team. For the past three years, Morton has also added the women's program to his head coaching resume and has led the team to the most wins in CSU history (14). With the men, Morton has compiled over 250 victories including a second place finish at the Horizon League Championship last year. His successful tenure includes 14 Penn-Ohio Championships, a pair of Midwestern Collegiate Conference (MCC) titles, a Horizon League Championship and an astounding 27 seasons with a .500 or better record. Morton has turned around the women's program, leading the Vikings to a 14-5 finish last season. This marked the fourth .700 or better season for the women. The 14 wins are a school record, surpassing the previous record of 10 which was set during the 1982-83 season.

HOME, SWEET HOME: With the wins over John Carroll, Canisius and Notre Dame College on Nov. 30, the Viking men have now gone undefeated at the Busbey Natatorium for nearly two years. Since a 173.5-118.5 loss to Oakland on Jan. 16, 2009, CSU has won eight home meets and defeated 16 opponents. Though not as long as the men's, the women have started an impressive home streak of their own, winning six meets against 17 teams since their last home loss, a narrow 123-120 defeat to Green Bay on Oct. 24, 2009.

...AND COULD IT GET SWEETER?: Both swiming and diving teams will be poised for strong finishes to the season if they can keep the home success going. Three of the men's remaining four meets, including both this weekend, will be at Busbey, while the women will be home for two of their last four contests. The 2011 Horizon League Championships, scheduled for Feb. 23-26, will also be held at the Busbey Natatorium.

FOURTH IN THE (MID-MAJOR) NATION: The men's team has been ranked fourth by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America in its most recent Division I mid-major poll, released on Dec. 20. The Vikings, with 229.8 points, trail first place Navy (253.6), Princeton (250.7), and Cal State Bakersfield (230.1). Denver (243.3) rounds out the top five. The CSCAA defines a mid-major as any program not in the six BCS conferences or the Mountain West Conference.

WOMEN EARN FIRST MID-MAJOR RANKING: For the first time ever the CSCAA's Division I Women's Mid-Major Top 25 Poll includes Cleveland State. The Vikings, with 227.4 points, are ranked 15th, with Miami of Ohio (259.6), Princeton (250.7), Harvard (244.3), Denver (243.3) and Navy (241.9) holding the top five spots.

RECORD START: The wins over Canisius, John Carroll and Notre Dame College on Nov. 30 gave the women's team 11 this year, the most before the December break in program history. The wins are the second highest total in program history, just three shy of the mark set by last year's squad (14).

...AND MORE WINS TO COME?: With seven teams remaining on the spring portion of the schedule, the women have a good chance of earning the four wins needed to break the record for victories in a season. Of the remaining opponents on the Vikings' schedule, only Bowling Green (2-1) and Oakland (3-1) have winning records, with the latter meet being held at CSU's Busbey Natatorium.

BACK-TO-BACK: The 11 victories mean that the women's team will finish with back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since having four winning years in a row from 1986-87 to 1989-90. CSU went 9-3, 8-6, 8-5 and 8-7 in those seasons, respectively. This will also mark the first time the women have ever finished consecutive seasons with double digit wins.

LUCKY NUMBER 13: With nine victories on the year and only six opponents left on the schedule, the Viking men have clinched their 13th consecutive winning season. Cleveland State has finished every season since 1998-99 with more wins than losses, the longest such streak in program history. The second longest is 10 seasons with winning records, set from 1973-74 to 1982-83.

CSU AT THE USA: Five Vikings competed at the USA Swimming National Championships, which featured the top collegiate swimmers from across the country, held in Columbus, Ohio from Dec. 2-4. Mark de Swardt led Cleveland State with a 13th place finish in the 1,650 free, finishing in 15:23.90. Brian Ferro recorded the fourth-best time in CSU history in the 200 breast, finishing in 2:02.34. That time leads the Horizon League this season. Berry Thompson, Joanna Olsson and Alice Sommerville also represented Cleveland State at the championships.

2010-11 HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS: Cleveland State's swimmers and divers have been honored by the Horizon League six times this season, with nine Vikings being selected for athlete of the week awards. Below is the complete list of Vikings who have earned the honor this season:
Alice Sommerville - Oct. 18 (swimmer of the week)
Berry Thompson - Oct. 18 (swimmer of the week)
Josh Gonzalez - Oct. 18 (swimmer of the week)
Carys Behn - Oct. 26 (swimmer of the week)
Berry Thompson - Oct. 26 (swimmer of the week)
Mark de Swardt - Nov. 2 (swimmer of the week)
Deni Gasparin - Nov. 9 (swimmer of the week)
Josh Gonzalez - Nov. 23 (diver of the week)
Berry Thompson - Nov. 23 (swimmer of the week)
Joanna Olsson - Nov. 23 (swimmer of the week)
Kacey Cummings - Dec. 7 (diver of the week)
Matt DiMasso - Dec. 7 (diver of the week)

EASY AS 1-2-3: Entering this season, the women's divers had never 1-2-3'd an opponent in Rich Karban's nine seasons as head diving coach. This season they have already done it three times, with Kacey Cummings, Kathleen Chandler and Alex DiMasso placing first, second and third against divers from Denison (on Nov. 5), St. Bonaventure (Nov. 13) and Canisius (Nov. 30).

OLSSON TEARS UP THE TYR: Joanna Olsson's performance at the Northwestern TYR Invitational was one of the best individual performances in Viking history. The sophomore set two Horizon League records and eight school records. She broke the conference and CSU marks in the 400 IM (4:20.09) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:24.51), and set Cleveland State records in the 500 free, 200 IM, the 200 and 400 medley relays and the 200 and 800 freestyle relays. This success was nothing new to Olsson, who broke six CSU records at the 2009 Northwestern TYR Invitational.

VIKINGS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: The best times of CSU's top swimmers stack up well against the rest of the country. Mark de Swardt's 15:23.90 mark in the 1,650 free is the 32nd best among NCAA swimmers while his 9:23.88 time in the 1,000 free ranks 50th. Brian Ferro is 71st in the 200 breast with a time of 2:02.34 while Berry Thompson's 44.84 time in the 100 free ranks 80th. Joanna Olsson rates 83rd in the 400 IM (4:20.09). The women's best time in the 400 free relay (3:24.51) also ranks as the 43rd best finish in the country and their top time in the 200 free (1:34.00) is tied with Clarion for 52nd.

NEXT UP: The Vikings will host their final regular season home meet of the year next Saturday (Jan. 22) at 1:00 p.m. when Cleveland State welcomes a pair of Horizon League opponents. Both teams will compete against Wright State while the women will also swim against Youngstown State. The meet will also be Senior Day for four Vikings.