CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming & diving teams combined for seven first-place finishes while freshman Emma Kerro broke a school record as the Vikings hosted the second day of the Magnus Cup Saturday inside Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
The CSU men extended their commanding lead over the 10-team field and sit in first with 1,087 points, nearly 400 ahead of second place. The Viking women stand in third place with 711.5 points but sit just 10 points out of second and are within shouting distance of first, just 40 points back.
Kerro's performance to open the 3-meter event highlighted the Viking women's showing Saturday. The rookie produced a score of 309.40 in the preliminary portion, breaking the record that had stood since 2011. Her score surpassed the NCAA Zones standard by nearly 25 points and came as a result of four dives that scored at least 53 points. Her highest scoring dive was a reverse 2.5 somersault tuck that netted 58.80 points.
In the 3-meter finals, Kerro finished seventh (260.00) while junior Erica Henrichsen was ninth (253.75). Henrichsen had reset her career best in the prelims with a score of 260.80.
Juniors Alana Cartwright and Libby Smith helped the Vikings to a dominant showing in the 100 breaststroke. Cartwright won in 1:03.90 while Smith was the runner-up in 1:04.41. Classmate Gracyn McQueary also scored in the event in a time of 1:06.81.
Sophomore Agnes Bahr led three Vikings among the top 10 in the 400 IM. She was the runner-up in a new personal best of 4:25.81 and became the third-fastest performer in program history.
Newcomers Sule van der Merwe and Hannah Cooper took sixth and ninth, respectively, in the 400 IM in 4:28.17 and 4:32.30. Both moved into CSU's all-time top 10 performers in the event. Sophomore Stephanie Sipple also scored in 4:41.51 after resetting her personal best in prelims.
Six Viking women scored in the 100 butterfly while five netted points in the 100 backstroke.
Junior Shaw Barney led the way in the fly, finishing seventh in a new personal best of 56.89. Senior Madi Jaszcz was 10th (58.20) while Cartwright (57.48), Sipple (58.31), freshman Caroline Hughes (59.15) and freshman Rachel Contich (59.16) all scored in the consolation final. Barney moved into the all-time top-10 list while Contich reset her personal best in prelims.
Senior Chuchu Yang led the way in the back, finishing sixth in 57.30 seconds. Jaszcz took ninth (58.98) while Bahr (58.78), Hughes (59.00) and freshman MaKennah Fitzgerald (59.09) all scored in the consolation final. Bahr and Hughes had both reset personal bests with their prelims swims.
Junior Irena Weclawiak and senior Gabriella Marinelli took seventh (1:53.15) and eighth (1:54.41) in the women's 200 free while senior Lauren Frank was 16th in a new personal best of 1:56.83.
The CSU women's top finish in both relays was fourth place.
Jaszcz, Cartwright, Barney and Bahr finished the 200 medley relay in 1:44.28 while Bahr, Marinelli, junior Lexie Kostelnik and Weclawiak combined to touch the wall in 7:39.94 in the 800 free relay.
The CSU men won six of the eight events contested Saturday, with all four individual winners posting a new career-best time or score.
Junior Matt Akers, sophomore Jack Krusinski and juniors Timothy Kubacki and Dominik Niedzialek all won individual events while both Krusinski and Niedzialek swam on winning relays.
Niedzialek and Krusinski led off the winning 200 medley relay while seniors Matthew Martin and Jack MacDonald swam the back half as the quartet finished in 1:30.00. For the second straight day, CSU finished first and second in the medley relay as Kubacki, seniors Tyler Stevenson and DJ Arslanian and freshman Nathen Eberhardt were runners-up in 1:30.95.
Niedzialek and MacDonald also both swam on the winning 800 free relay, swimming the first and last legs. Sophomore Bob Lenart and Eberhardt swam the middle half as the group finished first in 6:45.84.
Niedzialek also won the 100 backstroke in a new personal best time of 48.17 seconds. Senior Ryan Johnston was fifth (51.21), bettering his personal best by over a half-second, while classmate Austin Spruill was 10th (53.25).
Junior Ryan Sedlak (52.77) and senior Sam Sawyer (53.14) also scored for CSU while Eberhardt had the fourth-fastest time in prelims (51.34) but was scratched out of the final.
Krusinski won the 100 breaststroke in a new personal best 55.48 seconds and became one of the top 10 performers in program history in the process. Senior Tyler Stevenson finished fourth (56.01) while junior Josh Hodges was 10th (59.39) after the latter reset his personal best in prelims.
Freshman Daniel Poletta also scored in the event, finishing in 1:00.51, after notching a career-best time in prelims.
Kubacki won the 400 IM in a new personal-best time of 3:54.49, moving up to the second-fastest performer in program history. Hodges was third (4:06.79), sophomore Austin Harper was fourth in a new personal best (4:06.90) and junior Alec Bowie was sixth (4:09.58). Krusinski had posted the second-fastest time in prelims, a new personal best, before scratching before finals.
After his 3-meter win Friday, Akers swept the diving events by winning the 1-meter Saturday. His posted a new personal best of 353.85 points as all six of his dives scored at least 51 points while three of the six netted at least 62 points. His highest scoring dive was a reverse 1.5 somersault, 2.5 twist free that tallied 64.50 points.
Senior Antony Styrt was second in 1-meter with a new personal best of 288.40. Junior Trevor Mahoney was third with 283.95 after resetting his personal best in prelims.
Martin was the runner-up in the 100 butterfly (48.66) and was one of three Vikings among the top five. Arslanian was third in 48.98 while Lenart was fifth in 49.95. Sophomore Andrius Kijauskas (51.31) and Spruill (51.63) also both scored for CSU with the former tallying a new career best time.
Eberhardt was CSU's top finisher in the 200 freestyle, taking fifth in 1:42.77, after resetting his personal best in prelims. MacDonald was sixth in 1:42.83 and Lenart was seventh in 1:43.06 after posting a new best time in prelims.
Cleveland State will conclude action in the Magnus Cup Sunday with five individual events and one relay per gender.