Jan. 14, 2012
Contact: Tim Ertle
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ROCHESTER, Mich. - Five wins in 13 events helped the Cleveland State women's swimming and diving team come away with a split at the Oakland University Tri-Meet in Rochester, Mich. on Saturday (Jan. 14).
The Vikings, now 10-4, defeated Xavier 155-82, but fell to Oakland 142-101 at the Oakland University Aquatic Center.
"When you come off a training trip as we did, you aren't going to swim as well as you typically do," head coach Wally Morton said. "We've put our kids through a lot in the last couple of days and we really haven't had a day off in two weeks.
When you take all of that into account, I'm really pleased with how we swam," the coach added. "Those are two quality teams we went up against and everyone competed well. No one gave up, even though we're in a torn down state. This was a good meet for us."
Carys Behn picked up the first CSU win of the day when she won the 200 free in 1:54.05, just .05 ahead of Oakland's Sandra Czerska. CSU's Gretchen Hestley (1:57.16) and Jamie Puls (1:57.74) were third and fourth, respectively.
That trio all cracked the top-five in the 100 free. Behn was third with a 53.28, Puls was next with a 53.98 and Hestley came in fifth with a 54.29.
Alice Sommerville became the second Viking winner of the afternoon with a win in the 50 free. She posted a 24.20 while Alex Johannson was third with a 24.62, one spot ahead of Christine Kopacko who touched in 25.13.
Joanna Olsson won the 200 fly (2:05.17) and took second in the 200 IM (2:07.47) while newcomer Hayley Smith was fourth in the individual medley with a 2:15.38 in her first meet swimming yards.
Kacey Cummings, who worked under the tutelage of Oakland University diving coach Larry Albright while a member of the Legacy Diving Club, won the 3-meter board with a 257.25.
The Vikings closed with a win in the 400 free relay as Kopacko, Behn, Hestley and Amanda Pallija teamed together to cover the distance in 3:37.29.
Earlier in the meet, CSU was fourth in the 400 medley relay (4:03.54).
Olsson also placed second in the 200 breast (2:28.13), Johannson was second in the 200 back (2:09.35) ahead of third place Hayley Smith (2:09.53) and Ashley Rossi chipped in a fourth place finish in the 1,000 free (10:53.33).
The Viking women will be back in action next Saturday (Jan. 21) when they take on Horizon League foe Wright State at 1:00 p.m. in Fairborn, Ohio.
