Cleveland State Posts 4-0 Mark to Start Semester

Cleveland State Posts 4-0 Mark to Start Semester

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bolstered by seven first-place finishes by each gender, the Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming & diving teams opened the second semester by posting a combined 4-0 mark Friday evening inside the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.

Both programs picked up wins over Horizon League opponents IUPUI and UIC. The CSU women topped the Jaguars, 190-110, and held off UIC, 152-147, while the Viking men beat IUPUI, 162-151, and cruised past the Flames, 178-122.

Junior Molly McNamara and sophomore Chuchu Yang led the way for the CSU women by each winning two individual events while the former also swam on a winning relay.

McNamara cruised to victory in the 200 butterfly, winning by nearly four seconds in 2:04.38. She finished her day by holding off a UIC swimmer in the 200 IM in the last individual race of the night, touching the wall in 2:08.88. Classmate Claudia Zido was third in the 200 IM in 2:10.48.

McNamara had swum the third leg of CSU's winning 400 medley relay team. Seniors Jamie VanDewerker and Tobie Zeller led off while sophomore Gabriella Marinelli anchored the group, which finished in an unofficial time of 3:52.39. Junior Cassandra Oltman, freshmen Gracyn McQueary and Alana Cartwright and junior Claudia Zido finished third in the same race in 3:55.87.

Yang swept the backstroke events for the Viking women. She won the 100 by over a second, finishing in 58.56 seconds, and claimed the 200 in 2:07.89. Oltman was third in the 100 (59.98) while junior Michaela Bargardi was fourth in the 200 (2:10.37).

VanDewerker and freshman Lexie Kostelnik also won individual events for the CSU women Friday.

VanDewerker claimed the 50 freestyle in 24.48 seconds while junior Ashleigh Bennett was third (24.99) in the same race. The senior also led Vikings to spots two, three and four in the 100 freestyle by finishing in 53.57 seconds. Sophomore Meghan Bobick was third (53.71) and Zido was fourth (53.75).

Kostelnik won the 1000 freestyle in a season-best 10:30.26, becoming one of the 10 fastest performers in program history in the event. Classmate Amelia Besterman was third in 11:02.42. Kostelnik also posted a new season best in the 500 free, as she and Marinelli took second and third, respectively, in 5:07.60 and 5:14.51.

McQueary and Cartwright finished second and third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.40 and 1:07.31, respectively. Cartwright was also CSU's top finisher in the 100 butterfly, taking third in 59.40 seconds.

Freshman Libby Smith was the runner-up in the 200 breaststroke in 2:25.89 while Marinelli and freshman Irena Weclawiak took third and fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:56.14, 1:56.51).

VanDewerker, Marinelli, Weclawiak and Bobick finished as the runners-up in the 200 free relay in 1:37.85.

Sophomore DJ Arslanian won all four races he entered Friday, two individual and two relay, to lead the CSU men.

Arslanian began his day by swimming the third leg of CSU's winning 400 medley relay team. Freshman Dominik Niedzialek led off, junior Jared Stergar was second and junior Jason van der Touw anchored the quartet, which finished in 3:23.07. Cleveland State set the tone from that first race by also having its 'B' relay take second place. Senior Jonathan LaValle, sophomore Tyler Stevenson, senior Grant Wethington and junior Sean Mulvin were second in 3:26.20.

Arslanian went on to win the 50 freestyle in 21.08 seconds while senior Patrick Tippen was fourth in 21.60. Arslanian and Wethington then teamed up to finish 1-2 in the 100 butterfly in 50.10 seconds and 51.96, respectively.

Van der Touw led off the final event of the night, the 200 freestyle relay. He was followed by Arslanian, Stevenson and Mulvin, as the group won in 1:23.86.

Van der Touw won three events on the day by topping the field in the 200 freestyle in 1:40.70. Mulvin was fourth in that event in 1:45.00. Van der Touw was also the runner-up in the 500 free in 4:39.06.

Niedzialek and Stergar both won an event, and both finished among the top three in the 200 IM as well.

Niedzialek touched the wall first in the 200 backstroke in 1:51.33 while LaValle was fourth in 1:57.16. Stergar claimed the 100 breaststroke in 57.88 seconds while junior Addison Kaufmann was third in 59.06 seconds. Niedzialek and Stergar finished 2-3 in the 200 IM in 1:56.49 and 1:56.92, respectively.

Freshman Timothy Kubacki added a runner-up finish in the 100 back (51.64) while LaValle was fourth (53.29).

Mulvin and Stevenson added third-place finishes in the 100 freestyle (46.68) and the 200 breaststroke (2:08.15), respectively. Freshman Lee Moffett was also third in the 1000 freestyle (9:48.80).

Freshman Liam Halpin was CSU's top finisher in the 200 butterfly, taking fourth in 1:55.64.

Freshman Matt Akers and junior Curtis Roden finished third and fourth, respectively, in 1-meter diving with scores of 273.25 and 267.30.

Cleveland State will look to stay on the winning track Saturday as it once again hosts the Jaguars and Flames in dual action while also welcoming in-state foe Wright State. The quad dual gets underway at 1:00 p.m.