CLEVELAND, Ohio - For the second-straight year, the Cleveland State men's swimming and diving team won the CSU Magnus Cup. While the men took first out of the six team field, the women's team competed strong all weekend, finishing in fifth place of 10 teams.
"Coming into the Magnus Cup, nearly the halfway point in our season, we really just wanted to find out exactly where we were at," Cleveland State head coach Paul Graham said. "We found out a lot about who we were as a team and what we really need to focus on going forward for the Horizon League Championships," he continued, "as far as winning goes, it's a great building point for the rest of the season. We were more concerned about where we're at as a team and it's great for the men and for the women to stay in front of (Horizon League member) Youngstown State who we lost to earlier in the year."
The teams completed the 1650 Free, 100 IM, 50 Fly, 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 50 Back, 200 Fly and 400 Free Relay on Sunday, the final day of the three-day event.
For the third consecutive day, a record fell for the men's team. Szymon Golczyk grabbed a new varsity record in the 200 Fly with a time of 1:46.30, beating the old record by .20 seconds.
Golczyk's first place was not the only top finish for the Vikings on the day as Tommi Wolst finished atop the 200 Back field with a 1:47.63. In the 100 Free, CSU had an impressive showing as Philipp Sikatzki (44.08), Adam Ingledew (45.71), Robert Tolson (45.90) and Phillip Brittain (46.14) all finished first, second, third and fourth respectively.
CSU finished the event in style as the 400 Free relay team of Sikatzki, Wolst, Ingledew and Tolson (3:00.39) finished in first-place.
The Vikings also had several other top performances throughout the day, gaining contributions from many members of the roster.
Leading off the day, Patrick Walsh used his stamina to complete a third-place finish in the 1,650 Free (16:16.62). In the 50 Back, a virtually opposite race than the 1,650, Jon LaValle finished second (23.84) and Aidan Burton fourth (24.57).
Gage Alleman and Jared Stergar also finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 200 Breast with times of 2:05.75 and 2:06.50.
Alex Strawser pulled out a hard-fought third-place finish in the 100 IM, swimming to a time of 56.12.
For the women, the team continued its consistencies from the first two days.
Molly McNamara found herself matching Szymon Golczyk as she too re-wrote the 200 Fly varsity record book with a time of 2:01.12, beating the previous time of 2:02.42. Miraculously, McNamara's finish was good for just second as the first-place finisher, Akron's Erin Seiler, broke the Busbey Natatorium record.
McNamara also finished second in the 50 Fly with a time of 24.90.
The women's side was able to register three more top-10 finishes as Jamie VanDewerker (51.68) finished sixth in the 100 Free and teammate Anna Evans (52.66) finished ninth.
In the final event of the day and ultimately of the women's event, the 400 Free relay team of Evans, VanDewerker, Claudia Zido and McNamara finished eighth (3:30.76) in a down-to-the-wire race.
Michaela Bargardi, Ashleigh Bennett, Jillian Rothgery, Kimberly Jiminez, Tobie Zeller, Bethany Robertson and Meghan Miller all had notable performances as well.
The teams will be off for a weekend before heading down I-77 for the Akron Zippy Invitational December 4-6.
FINAL MEN'S TEAM SCORES:
1.) Cleveland State // 1801.5
2.) Xavier // 1625
3.) George Washington // 988
4.) Saginaw Valley // 740.5
5.) Cumberlands // 636
6.) Notre Dame // 384
FINAL WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES:
1.) Akron // 1713.5
2.) Duquesne // 1651
3.) Xavier // 1022.5
4.) George Washington // 696.5
5.) Cleveland State // 574.5
6.) Youngstown State // 464
7.) Saginaw Valley // 238
8.) Cumberlands // 188
9.) Saint Francis // 168
10.) Notre Dame College // 12
