Nov. 24, 2009
Contact: Renee Adam
Cleveland, Ohio - The Cleveland State swimming and diving programs swept the Horizon League Swimmer of the Week honors for the second week in a row, with freshman Joanna Olsson earning swimmer of the week on the women's side and sophomore Mark deSwardt taking home the award for the men. The duo earned the awards for the period of Nov. 16-22.
The league office made the announcement on Tuesday (Nov. 24).
Olsson set four CSU individual records and was part of two record-setting relays at the TYR Northwestern Invitational this past weekend. She bested her 200 fly record for the fourth time this season with her third place finish of 2:03.55. Olsson also set CSU records in the 500 free (4:54.39), 400 IM (4:22.99) and the 200 IM (2:05.31).
She was also part of the record setting 400 free (3:31.24) and the 400 medley relays (3:54.34).
"Joanna continues to improve due to her excellent work ethic, her intelligence in training and her incredible will to win," head coach Wally Morton said. "I know and Joanna knows that she has a lot of room for improvement and we are going to set her goals high and we are both convinced that she will reach those goals."
deSwardt had an outstanding performance at the TYR Invitational this past weekend with the highpoint coming in the 1,650 free when he took home a first place finish with an NCAA "B" cut time of 15:27.19, which ranks him fifth nationally. He also finished second in the 500 free (4:29.34) and the 200 fly (1:51.16), while he touched third in the 400 IM with a time of 3:57.85.
During the meet, deSwardt beat swimmers from the defending Horizon League champion UIC team in all of his events, as well as Big Ten powerhouse University of Michigan.
"Mark established himself as one of the top distance freestyle swimmers in the NCAA Division I level over the past weekend," Morton said. "His outstanding work ethic, politeness and single minded determination to be the best that he can be, is a model for everyone to follow."
deSwardt earns his seventh career award, second this season, while Olsson is honored for the first time of her CSU career.
The Vikings face Ohio State in their final dual meet of the 2009 calendar year tonight (Nov. 24) at 5:00 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio.
