CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming & diving teams competed at home for the first time this season Friday evening, battling Green Bay and Marshall inside Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
The CSU women hold slim leads over their foes after the first of two days of competition, holding a 118-84 lead over Marshall and a 104-101 edge on the Phoenix. The CSU men trail Green Bay by a slim margin as well, 105-100.
Junior Molly McNamara notched an individual win and was part of a relay victory while domination in the 100 breaststroke also helped the Vikings grab a lead halfway through the double dual.
McNamara began her day by swimming the third leg on CSU's winning 200 medley relay squad. Junior Cassandra Oltman led off and was followed by senior Tobie Zeller while senior Jamie VanDewerker anchored the quartet. The group finished in 1:45.71.
As she did last time out, McNamara absolutely dominated in the 200 butterfly. Her winning time of 2:03.63 was over eight seconds better than the second-place finisher.
Three freshmen were among the five Vikings to sweep the top five spots in the 100 breaststroke. Rookie Gracyn McQueary led the effort by winning in 1:04.82. Senior Tobie Zeller was second (1:05.36), freshman Alana Cartwright was third (1:05.66), redshirt senior Madisen Tretter was fourth (1:07.98) and rookie Libby Smith was fifth (1:08.01).
McQueary's time made her the fourth fastest performer in that event in Cleveland State history and is also the top time in the Horizon League this season. Cartwright's time put her within the top 10 CSU performers in that event. Cartwright also finished fourth of 18 competitors in the 200 IM in 2:10.31.
Freshman Irena Weclawiak and sophomore Chuchu Yang had individual runner-up finishes. The former took second in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.87. Yang was second in the 100 backstroke in 58.11 while Oltman was third in 58.99.
Freshman Lexie Kostelnik took third in the 1650 freestyle in 17:32.23, a time that made her the fifth fastest performer in the mile in CSU history.
VanDewerker grabbed a third-place finish in the 50 freestyle (24.30), a couple spots ahead of junior Ashleigh Bennett (24.85). VanDewerker also led off CSU's top 200 free relay squad that also featured McNamara, Weclawiak and freshman Shaw Barney. The group finished in 1:39.33.
Junior Jason van der Touw won an individual event and swam on a winning relay while two other Viking freshmen also won events.
Van der Touw led off CSU's winning 200 medley relay and was followed by junior Jared Stergar, sophomore DJ Arslanian and sophomore Jack MacDonald. The group combined to touch the wall in 1:32.32.
Van der Touw also easily won the 200 freestyle in his only other swim of the night. He took first in 1:40.56, over two seconds clear of second place.
Freshman Matt Akers won 3-meter diving while teammate Curtis Roden was the runner-up. Akers posted a top score of 310.65 points while Roden's best effort also saw him top 300 points.
Three CSU freshmen claimed the top three spots in the 1650 freestyle to help the Viking cause.
Lee Moffett won the event (16:03.77) while Alec Bowie took second (16:25.58) and David Bates was third (16:45.42).
Arslanian and Stergar both posted runner-up finishes with the former doing so in the 200 butterfly (1:53.10) and the latter in the 200 IM (1:56.46).
Freshman Dominik Niedzialek took third in the 100 backstroke (51.70) while sophomores Tyler Stevenson and MacDonald were third in the 100 breaststroke (59.00) and 50 freestyle (21.66), respectively.
Arslanian led off CSU's top 200 free relay squad and was followed by MacDonald and seniors Patrick Tippen and Grant Wethington. The quartet finished in 1:25.05.
Cleveland State will wrap up the event Saturday with the second half of the meet schedule. Action will begin at Noon.