Jan. 18, 2011
Contact: Dan Carr
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State followed up a weekend in which it faced some of the toughest opponents on its schedule by sweeping this week's Horizon League's swimming and diving honors. Mark de Swardt and Alice Sommerville were tabbed as the conference swimmers of the week while Josh Gonzalez and Kacey Cummings were selected as divers of the week.
The Horizon League made the announcement on Tuesday (Jan. 18).
"This is proof that our hard work has paid off," head coach Wally Morton said. "Given that the team was performing at a less-than-optimal level coming off a tough week of training, it was great to see our team was still very competitive against some very good teams."
Mark de Swardt went undefeated last weekend, taking first in every event he swam. Against Notre Dame on Friday (Jan. 14), de Swardt won the 200 fly (1:50.85), the 500 free (4:34.51) and the 1,000 free (9:18.49), with his time in the last event being nearly 30 seconds better than the second-place finisher's.
He followed up that performance with another 3-0 run on Saturday (Jan. 15) against Oakland and Xavier. de Swardt again won the 500 free (4:32.59) and the 1,000 free (9:25.98) and he also placed first in the 200 IM, setting a new season best conference time in the process (1:52.99).
Sommerville also went a perfect 3-0 on Saturday against Oakland, Xavier and Duquesne. She took first out of 15 participants in the 100 breast (1:05.89), 50 free (23.69) and the 100 fly (56.48). Her times in the 50 free and 100 fly would have been the second-best times in the league this year, but Sommerville already held the top spots in both events.
"The performances this weekend show what great competitors Mark and Alice are," Morton said. "They are both very deserving of this honor."
Gonzalez was earned his diver of the week honor after qualifying for the NCAA Zone Cut in the 3-meter dive on Saturday with a score of 326.78. He also scored 289.35 in the 1-meter diver, winning both events. On Friday, Gonzalez placed third 1-meter dive (290.35) against Notre Dame and fourth in the 3-meter dive (308.03).
Cummings was CSU's top diver in both events on Saturday, taking second in the 3-meter dive (308.03) and third in the 1-meter (269.63). Her score in the latter event ranks her third in the Horizon League this year.
"Both Josh and Kacey performed very well against tough competition," head diving coach Rich Karban said. "It was good to seem them perform so well after a hard week of training, and it's a good indication of what's to come the rest of the season."
This marks the second time this season that de Swardt, Sommerville and Cummings have been tabbed as athlete of the week and the third time this year that the honor has gone to Gonzalez.
The Vikings will be back in action on Saturday (Jan. 22) when the men host Wright State and the women welcome both Wright State and Youngstown State in the final home meet of the season for both teams. The meet will begin at 1:00 p.m.
