INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Senior Molly McNamara earned a pair of prestigious honors as the Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming & diving teams wrapped up the Horizon League Championships Saturday inside IU Natatorium.
The CSU men finished in second place with 607.5 points while the Viking women took fourth place with 500.5 points. It was the third straight year that the men tallied at least 600 points.
McNamara was named both Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Year and Women's Swimmer of the Meet. She became the first Viking woman to win the former award more than once. She won Swimmer of the Meet for the first time, becoming the first Viking woman to win that honor this century.
McNamara cruised to victory in the 200 butterfly Saturday, the third consecutive year she's won that event at the league meet. She touched the wall in 1:59.51, over four seconds faster than the runner-up. She had three first-place individual finishes this week, giving her six Horizon League titles in her career.
McNamara did not provide the only highlight for the CSU women as the school record in the 200 backstroke was broken twice Saturday.
In the 200 back prelims, freshman Agnes Bahr posted a 2:02.60 to break senior Cassandra Oltman's record. Bahr went on to finish eighth in finals.
Oltman came storming back at night, though, winning the consolation final in a new school record time of 2:01.58, surpassing her personal best entering the day by over a second.
Freshman Riley Drummond and junior Chuchu Yang finished 14th (2:05.19) and 15th (2:06.95). Drummond had posted a new personal best in prelims.
Sophomores Lexie Kostelnik and Libby Smith both had top-four finishes Saturday.
Kostelnik just missed her own school record in the mile, finishing third in 17:03.89, while Smith reset her personal best by over a second, finishing fourth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:17.41.
Junior Gabriella Marinelli (51.82) and senior Claudia Zido (52.46) both scored for the Vikings in the 200 freestyle.
Sophomore Erica Henrichsen advanced to the 3-meter final with a season-high 232.35 points before finishing seventh with 222.65. Senior Maggie Stebick scored in her final collegiate event, posting 180.10 points.
Marinelli, sophomore Irena Weclawiak, Zido and McNamara finished sixth in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:28.37.
The CSU men took two of the top three spots in the 200 backstroke. Sophomores Dominik Niedzialek and Timothy Kubacki finished second and third in 1:45.60 and 1:46.86, respectively. Senior MacJilton Lewis scored in his final collegiate event, finishing in 1:56.10.
Five Viking men scored in the 100 freestyle. Seniors Sean Mulvin and Jason van der Touw led the way finishing in fourth (45.12) and seventh (45.54) as Mulvin reset his personal best in prelims.
Junior Erwan Mahoudo finished 10th in a career-best 45.47 seconds. Juniors Dominic Poletta and Jack MacDonald were 11th (45.54) and 14th (45.87) as MacDonald had reset his personal best in prelims.
Senior Jared Stergar posted the fastest time in the 200 breaststroke on the day as he won the consolation final in a career-best 1:58.90.
Freshman Jack Krusinski was eighth (2:05.55), senior Addison Kaufmann was 13th (2:04.81) and junior Tyler Stevenson was 15th (2:06.88).
A trio of Vikings scored in the 200 fly—junior Matthew Martin was fifth (1:48.76), junior DJ Arslanian was ninth (1:49.88) and freshman Bob Lenart was 15th (1:52.20). Lenart had topped his personal best by over two seconds in prelims.
Mulvin, MacDonald, van der Touw and Mahoudo took second in the 400 free relay in 3:00.16.
Cleveland State will host the National Invitational Championship in mid-March.