Contact: Jeff Sattora

Cleveland, Ohio- With one day down in the first annual Magnus Cup Invitational, the Cleveland State Viking women currently sit in the second place in the six team field, trailing only Michigan State.

Although they are in second place, Head Coach Wally Morton walked away from the first day of competition happy with how the team performed.

"I thought we got off to a little bit of a lethargic start this morning, a little bit off from the way we were training but tonight everybody came back they were ready to swim fast and I was really impressed," Morton said. "We did a great job of racing and finishing races and some of the things we've been working on."

Similar to the men, Morton was happy with the team's overall performance, and the depth showing through on day one.

"We had our usual 50 freestyle people who really did a great job on the sprint side, the depth of the IM, the 500 people really stepped up with the depth," Morton said listing the strong events that came to mind. "Some people who have been struggling with their times really improved."

In that 50 freestyle the Vikings had two swimmers who swam very well, placing in second and fourth respectively. Alice Sommerville led the way with that second place finish coming in at 23.57, with Christine Kopacko not far behind in fourth at 23.95. Both of those times were season bests for the Vikings.

In the IM Morton was right as the depth really did shine through as CSU had three swimmers place in the top 10 in that race. Sommerville once again swam well clocking in at second in a time of 2:05.79; Gretchen Hestley was not far behind in fourth (2:07.71), with Hannah Morris rounding out the top ten for the Vikings in 2:11.89. 

Another swimmer who really performed well for CSU and came away with an individual win was Allison Pallija. Pallija, after finishing third in the prelims in the 50-yard breaststroke, came back even better in the final to come away with a first place finish with a time of 30.46, a time that bested her prelim time by over a second. She also was able to do her part in the relays, teaming up with Alex Johansson, Alice Sommerville, and Christine Kopackofor a second place finish in the 400 medley relay (3:48.46).

"Allison stepped up and did a great job for us on that breaststroke leg (of the 400 medley relay)," Morton said on Pallija filling in on the relay for Joanna Olsson, the squads' usual breaststroker.

The Vikings will be looking to keep that strong swimming going as they get back in the pool for the second day of the three day long invite tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. for the prelims, with finals starting at 5:00 p.m. at the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.