Jan. 16, 2009
CLEVELAND, Ohio - -
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
The Cleveland State University women's team had a strong showing against Oakland University on Jan. 16 in the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium. In a total team effort, the Vikings won six individual events, set one new school record and recorded four other all-time Top-10 times. Despite the success, the team lost the dual 172-120, falling to 6-7 in dual meets.
"I'm very pleased," head coach Wally Morton said. "Without exception, we got maximum effort out of all of our women. We hung in with their tough competition and have made great progress. The highlight of the night was Carys Behn who broke the school record in the 1,000 free."
The 200 medley relay team of Emily Splain, Rachel Arzadon, Maria Culjak and Brittany Tweardy started off the swimming portion of the meet with a third-place finish (1:52.64) and things picked up for the Vikings from there.
Carys Behn notched her third school record of the season, a 10:23.19 in the 1,000 free, breaking the mark of 10:27.39 set in 2005 by Kirsty McKechnie. In the next race, Whitney Hickey recorded her best time of the year to take third place in the 200 freestyle (1:59.19) and Frances Carrion's time of 2:05.18 (7th) was also her best of the season.
In the 100 backstroke Maria Culjak moved into the all-time Top-10 list with a time of 1:00.10 for the seventh-best time in school history and the team's fastest this season. Following Culjak, Arzadon and Erin Green recorded season-best times in the 100 breaststroke, finishing third and fourth, respectively. Arzadon swam the ninth-fastest time in school history, and CSU's fastest this season, bettering her own mark in 1:09.23 while Green swam a respectable 1:10.13.
Katie Bellew was the lone competitor for the Vikings in the 200 butterfly, and she posted a 2:13.51 to win the event and started the Vikings on win streak that included five of the next seven events.
After the 200 fly, Tweardy led CSU to a third-place finish in the 50 free before the Vikings won three straight in the 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke. In the 100 free, Behn notched her first of two individual wins, finishing in 53.23. Culjak picked up a win in the 200 back, swimming the seventh-fastest time in school history (2:08.52) and the team's (and her) fastest this season. Bellew also swam a season best in the event to finish second (2:32.59). In the 500 free, Kristine Bunker led the way with a fourth-place finish a her best time of the season (5:24.32).
Behn recorded her second win in the 100 butterfly, posting a time 58.85 and Arzadon followed with a second-place finish in the 200 IM. CSU wrapped up the event with a win in the final event of the night, the 400 freestyle relay, as Behn, Hickey, Culjak and Splain swam a season-best 3:37.15.
In the diving competition, Heather Dietz and Liz Victor both recorded their best scores of the season in the 1-meter event. Dietz finished third with a score of 188.45 while Victor was fourth with 169.95 points. In the 3-meter event, Victor finished third with 147.52 points.
The Vikings return to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 24 for their final home meet of the season and will celebrate Senior Day with a double dual against Wright State and Youngstown State at 2:00 p.m.
