Contact: Jeff Sattora
SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State Vikings enter its final weekend of home competition this week with contests both Friday and Saturday.
The men will first take on Notre Dame on Friday at 4:00 p.m.. The two teams will then compete together on Saturday on Senior Day at 1:00 p.m. The men will only take on Wright State while the women will take both Wright State and Youngstown State.
LAST TIME OUT: Both the men's and women's squads split their last meet, with both teams aking down Xavier in dominating fashion, despite falling to Oakland in close contests.
THE MEN: Freshman Danny Roberts led the way for the men on the day, sweeping the two diving events. Roberts took home a 15 point win in the 1-meter (295.58), and a 31 point win in the 3-meter (328.95). Three other men took home individual wins on the day in Justin Hill (50 freestyle), Justin Kermack (200 butterfly), and Berry Thompson (100 freestyle). Thompson and Roberts were honored as Horizon League male Swimmer and Diver of the Week respectively.
THE WOMEN: Two veterans in Joanna Olsson and Alice Sommerville led the way for the Vikings in the tri-meet. Olsson brought home wins in both the 200 IM (207.84) and 200 butterfly (2:07.51), while Sommerville won both the 50-yard freestyle (23.74) and the 200 breaststroke (2:23.57).
SPECIAL SENIORS: The 2013 senior class for the Cleveland State Vikings is one of the most accomplished in program history. In the past four years the men women have compiled a 50-15 dual meet record, while the men have compiled a 48-13-2 record. The class has combined for 11 individual school records and 12 individual Horizon League Championship wins.
STREAKING: Both the Cleveland State men's and women's teams had dominating winning streaks in the middle of this year. The men had a stretch of five straight wins, and have won six of their last seven. On the women's side they just completed a seven meet win streak, and have won eight of their last nine dual meets.
AWARDS ALL AROUND: Multiple Vikings have been awarded this season as Horizon League 'Swimmer of the Week' or 'Diver of the Week.' Both senior Joanna Olsson and junior Al Shillito picked up the league wide honors for the week of October 19th following their performances at Green Bay the weekend before. Each swimmer picked up three wins in the meet vs. the Phoenix.
CSU also took three of the four weekly awards following performances at the Magnus Cup Invitational. On the men's side junior Al Shillito picked up his second weekly honor of the season swimming with freshman Danny Roberts picking up his first career Horizon League 'Diver of the Week' accolade. On the women's side, junior Alexandra Johansson took home her first weekly honor of the season, taking home the women's Horizon League 'Swimmer of the Week' honor following her performance at the Magnus Cup Invite.
Jumping ahead in the schedule, junior Justin Kermack earned the Horizon League's Male 'Swimmer of the Week' following his performance at the AT@T Winter National Championships in the end of November. Kermack finished sixth nationally in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:46.50. Kermack's performance also broke a Cleveland State record in the event.
This past week two more Viking men were honored by the Horizon League for their performances in freshman Danny Roberts and senior Berry Thompson. Roberts picked up dominating wins in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dive to earn his second league honor of the year. Thompson took home one individual win (100 freestyle) and helped two relays to second place finishes to earn the seventh weekly league honor of his career.
NATIONAL ATTENTION: The CSU Viking men earned national recognition in November performing alongside top collegiate athletes and Olympians at the AT@T Winter National Championships in Austin, Texas. On the individual side, junior Justin Kermack finished in the top ten nationally for the second straight season in the 200 butterfly. Following a ninth place finish last season Kermack jumped up to sixth this season, while also breaking a school record at 1:46.50.
A Cleveland State relay also made a mark nationally with a seventh place finish in the 4x50 relay at the AT@T Winter National Championships this past week. The group, consisting of Berry Thompson, Jordan Hill, Alex Lewis, and Al Shillito, was the first relay in Vikings' history to race in the final championship heat at a National Championship event. Following an eighth place finish in the preliminaries the group moved up to seventh in 1:21.60 in the finals.
FAB FRESHMAN: The Cleveland State Viking freshmen seem to be mixing in seamlessly with the veteran groups on both the men's and women's squads. Two freshmen have jumped right in and are currently leading the Vikings on the diving side of things. Danny Roberts has the top 1-meter and 3-meter diving scores for the men, with Sammie Sposet doing the same for the women. In the pool for the women freshman Jodi Turk has the team's top time in the 500-yard (5:06.26) and 1,000-yard freestyle (10:26.94).
UPPERCLASSMEN LEADING THE WAY: Seniors and juniors have led the way this year on both the men's and women's sides. Multiple upperclassmen are currently leading in more than one event for CSU.
On the men's side senior Berry Thompson currently has the team's top time on the year in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. A second senior, Mark De Swardt, currently has the team's top time in both the 500 and 1,000 freestyle. Juniors Brian Ferro, Justin Kermack, and Al Shillito are other swimmers that lead the team in multiple events on the young season. Ferro leads in the 50 and 200 breaststroke, Kermack leads in the 200 butterfly, 200 IM, and 400 IM with Shillito leading in the 50, 100, and 200 backstroke, and the 200 freestyle.
Looking at the women, there have also been a variety of juniors and seniors leading the way. Senior Alice Sommerville leads that class with multiple top times for CSU. Sommerville currently has the team's top time in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, and the 200 IM. Juniors Alexandra Johansson and Nikki Kolis also hold multiple top times individually as upperclassman for CSU. Johansson has the team's top time in the 50 and 100 freestyle, 50 and 100 butterfly, and 100 backstroke. Kolis has the team's top time in the 1,650 freestyle and 50 backstroke.
RECORD-BREAKING WEEKEND: With both teams swimming strong at the first annual Magnus Cup Invitational, it's no surprise that Cleveland State school records were able to fall. Junior Al Shillito led the way for CSU, with two record-breaking performances. First Shillito set the 100 backstroke school record Friday, which he then broke again on Saturday (49.13). Sunday was also a record-breaking day for the junior as he then set the 200 backstroke record (1:47.04). The women's team wasn't left out of the record-breaking performances as two women also brought home school records. Junior Alexandra Johansson broke the school record in the 100 backstroke (55.67), while senior Alice Sommerville broke the 200 breaststroke record by two seconds in 2:19.89.
LEAGUE LEADING MEN: The Viking men's swimming team currently has multiple top times on the Horizon League leaderboards according to collegeswimming.com. The men dominate the Horizon Leagues' current rankings, leading multiple categories on collegeswimming.com. Senior Berry Thompson has the leagues' top time in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles, Mark De Swardt has the leagues' top times in the 500 and 1,000 freestyle. Al Shillito leads the leagues' backstroke categories with the top times in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. Nathan Grant has the leagues' top time in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke, with Justin Kermackleading in the 200 butterfly and 200 and 400 IM. Looking at the relays, the Vikings currently have the top times in the, the 200 freestyle relay, and the 200 and 400 medley relays.
...AND LEAGUE LEADING WOMEN: The Cleveland State women's Vikings team also has a high number of league leaders in different swimming events. Alexandra Johansson has the leagues' top times in the 50 and 100 freestyle, and 100 butterfly. On the relay side, the Vikings currently have the top times in each one listed, the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, and the 200 medley relay.
NEXT UP: The Viking men and women will be back in the pool February 2nd at 2:00 p.m. when the team faces UIC on the road in its final dual meet of the season.
