Feb. 21, 2005

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Setting the Scene: Cleveland State heads to Brown Deer, Wis. near Milwaukee for the Horizon League Championships, held Wednesday through Saturday (Feb. 23-26) at the Schroeder YMCA. The schedule for the four-day event will be as follows:

Wednesday, February 23
1:00 p.m. - Preliminaries - women's 3-meter diving (11 dives)
3:00 p.m. - Preliminaries - men's 1-meter dving (6 dives)
6:30 p.m. - Finals - 200 free relay, 1,000 free, 200 medley relay

Thursday, February 24
10:30 p.m. - Preliminaries - 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free
Finals - women's 3-meter diving (6 dives)
3:30 p.m. - Finals - men's 1-meter diving (6 dives)
6:30 p.m. - Finals - 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 400 medley relay

Friday, February 25
10:30 p.m. - Preliminaries - 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back
2:00 p.m. - Preliminaries - men's 3-meter diving (11 dives)
4:00 p.m. - Preliminaries - women's 1-meter diving (6 dives)
6:30 p.m. - Finals - 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 800 free relay

Saturday, February 26
10:30 p.m. - Preliminaries - 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly
3:30 p.m. - Finals - women's 1-meter diving (6 dives), men's 3-meter diving (6 dives)
6:30 p.m. - Finals - 1,650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay

Previewing The Vikings: The Cleveland State women's squad enters the championship with a 7-7 record and a 2-3 mark against Horizon League opponents. Marianne Lionell, the women's 100 breaststroke champion a year ago, will be one of the top contenders in the women's sprint freestyle events and breaststroke events at this year's championship, while Samantha Jones, last season's 100 backstroke champ, will compete for both backstroke, butterfly and IM events.The men's team holds a 10-4 record overall and a 2-1 league mark. Pieter Pelser, the reigning champion in both backstroke events, will again be the top contender in backstroke as well as IM events. Luke Wilkens, the reigning 500 free champ, leads the Vikings in both the 200 and 500 free this year and will be one of the top butterflyers at the championship. Daniel Thomasson will be a strong competitor in the distance freestyle events after winning the 1,000 free championship last year. The Vikings tout seven swimmers and divers that have won a total of 10 swim athlete of the week awards, with Thatcher Carr, Jones and Bjorn Schantz having won twice.

Records Were Meant To Be Broken: The person who climbs the inner wall of Busbey Natatorium to update the school records board sure has been getting their exercise lately, because there has been no shortage of changes this season. The Vikings have set nine team records, including three by Marianne Lionell (50 free - 23.86, 100 free - 52.25, 100 breast - 1:04.95) and two by Pieter Pelser (100 back - 49.71, 200 back - 1:47.84). Additionally, Thatcher Carr (1m diving - 369.50), Kirsty McKechnie (1,000 free - 9:23.10) and the women's 800 free relay team of McKechnie, Tina Abbott, Lionell and Samantha Jones (7:45.67) have posted top CSU marks.

...And Broken, And Broken: Diver Thatcher Carr has taken advantage of his short time as a Viking to an absurd degree. In his very first meet with CSU against Duquesne and Xavier on Jan. 15, the Russell, Ohio native broke the 10-year-old one-meter record. His score of 349.40 bested the previous mark of 322.20 set by Justin Sochor in 1995. Two weeks later, Carr returned to Busbey Natatorium and promptly topped the record by nearly 10 points, scoring a 358.65 against Notre Dame and Canisius. The water in the pool barely had a chance to settle before Carr was at it again, re-setting the record again with a 369.50 score less than 24 hours later against Valparaiso. While Carr did not break the record against Wright State (2/4), he made up for it the follow night against UIC, posting a record 410.93 at one-meter and a 409.95 at three-meter.

Keeping Up With Jones: Senior Samantha Jones has been one of the top female swimmers in the Horizon League for the past three seasons. This year has been no exception, as the Pietermartizburg, South Africa native holds league best times in three events, including the 100 back (57.60), 200 back (2:04.20) and the 200 IM (2:09.90). She also has garnered swimmer of the week honors twice (11/9 & 12/7).

What Sophomore Jinx?: After earning Horizon League Newcomer of the Year honors last season, Marianne Lionell seems to have thwarted any chance of a sophomore slump. She broke the 100 freestyle record time (52.25), has surpassed her own school-mark in the 100 breast (1:04.97), tied her 50 free record time (23.86) and has approached her top time in the 200 breast (2:23.05). The Sodertajle, Sweden native began her collegiate career at Cleveland State with a flurry in 2003-04, shattering long-standing school records in the 50 freestyle (23.86), 100 breaststroke (1:04.98) and 200 breaststroke (2:22.72) in addition to placing fourth all-time in the 100 freestyle (53.01).

Pelser And Wilkens, Again: Just by glancing down the Horizon League top times, two names always seem to appear near or at the top of just about every list: Pieter Pelser and Luke Wilkens. The South African tandem holds a total of seven top-five times between them. Pelser is atop the standings in both the 100 back (49.71) and 200 back (1:47.84), while Wilkens leads all league swimmers in the 200 freestyle (1:40.82), 500 freestyle (4:31.99), 100 butterfly (49.33) and 200 butterfly (1:50.41). Additionally, Pelser's top marks in both backstroke events broke his own school records set a year ago.

Morton Goes From 199 To 202: It seems fitting that a head coach with 199 wins to his credit would not be content to win just one more for an even 200, but men's head coach Wally Morton never really had the chance. On Nov. 15, the 24th-year CSU mentor actually jumped from 199 career-dual meet victories to 202 before the night was through by topping Baldwin Wallace, Gannon and John Carroll in the City College Meet in Busbey Natatorium. With competitors from each team swimming in every heat, the triple dual-meet was not officially scored until the very end, giving CSU three victories simultaneously. So if the question gets asked "Who did coach Morton get his 200th win against?", one answer is as good as any.

As One Career Ends, Another Begins: The women's swim team suffered a loss at the conclusion of the 2004 fall semester as the career of senior distance swimmer Tina Abbott came to an end. Despite losing the second half of her senior season due to eligibility issues, Abbott still finds herself ranked in the CSU records, holding a fourth-best mark in the 1,650 free (17:48.17) and a 10th-best time in the 500 free (5:11.70). At the same time that Abbott's time with the Vikings was ending, another athlete's CSU career was beginning, as senior diver Thatcher Carr put an exclamation point on his first dual meet with the Vikings, diving to a school-record 349.40 in one-meter boards on Jan. 15.

Out With The Old, In With The Newcomers: Men's head coach Wally Morton had quite a task at hand following last season. After losing 11 swimmers to graduation last year, including two-time Horizon League Swimmer of the Year Warren Vickers, Morton brought in 12 talented newcomers to carry the burden left by the departing veterans, and they have delivered. Sophomore Bjorn Schantz currently leads the Horizon League in the 200 freestyle (1:41.60), 1,000 freestyle (9:27.19) and 1,650 free (16:02.39) and was named the league's men's swimmer of the week on Nov. 16. Additionally, senior Thatcher Carr began his Viking career in style by shattering the CSU record in one-meter diving on Jan. 15. In fact, eight Viking newcomers hold a total of 24 top-10 Horizon League times or scores this season, including:

Better Lehto Than Never: Women's head coach Mike Lehto is in his 11th season with Cleveland State, compiling a 76-80 career record as the winningest Vikings' mentor in history. Last season, Lehto guided the squad to its third-straight season at .500 or better, compiling a 7-6 dual meet mark. Under his guidance, the Vikings broke six school records, won two Horizon League Championship events and featured the school's first league newcomer of the year (Marianne Lionell) since 1999. With every top swimmer from last season returning, this year has the potential to be one of the program's finest.

Wally World: Cleveland State men's swimming has certainly become synonymous with head coach Wally Morton. Morton currently holds a 208-122-1 career record after passing 200 dual meet victories against Baldwin Wallace, Gannon and John Carroll earlier this season. He has to his credit nine Penn-Ohio Championships, a pair of MCC titles and 21 winning seasons. Morton led the Vikings to their third-straight 11-win season in 2003-04, while CSU swimmers claimed nine titles in the Horizon League Championship. In his fourth and final year under Morton, Warren Vickers was named the league's Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Year for the second straight season. Additionally, Chris Jones was named diver of the meet in his senior season, while diving coach Rich Karban was tabbed as Diving Coach of the Year.