Jan. 30, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - -

Contact: Julie Farr DeLima

Cleveland State freshman Mark deSwardt earned the fourth Horizon League Swimmer of the Week honor of the season this week after a spectacular showing in CSU's final home meet on Jan. 24. The league made the announcement on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

"Mark has established himself as one of the top distance swimmers at the NCAA Division I level," head coach Wally Morton said. "He continued to improve and I appreciate his hard work and dedication. We still have much to accomplish by the end of the year but I congratulate him on his success with all of his events including the 200 butterfly."

There were several great accomplishments during the men's final home dual of the season against Wright State, but none was more impressive than what deSwardt did to the 1,000 freestyle record. He won the event in 9:05.64, nearly 13 seconds faster than his previous best time and 11 seconds ahead of CSU's school record of 9:16.53 set by Henk Markgraaff in 1999. The time was also a Horizon League record and is currently the fifth-fastest time in the nation this season. deSwardt also picked up wins in the 200 fly (1:50.25) while swimming the fourth-fastest time in school history and won the 500 free (4:28.98).

deSwardt and the Vikings have an off week before heading to Valparaiso (Friday, Feb. 6) and Chicago (Saturday, Feb. 7) to wrap up the dual portion of the 2008-09 season. Both meets are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. EST.