Feb. 22, 2008

Day Three Results | 2008 Championship Page

Contact: Gene Natale, Jr.

AKRON, Ohio - After an unprecedented day that saw the Horizon League Championships moved from Busbey Natatorium to Akron's Ocasek Natatorium, Cleveland State saw its swimmers perform admirably under the circumstances. Many top times were recorded despite the change in venue.

Defending champion Green Bay leads all teams with 569 points, followed by Wright State (505) and Milwaukee (476). Cleveland State remains in seventh place overall with 139 points with one day to go in the competition.

"For both teams, it was a tremendously challenging day," head coach Wally Morton said, "We go from our own pool, where we know what we are dealing with and that we are familiar with, to another pool that we are unfamiliar with, and from running preliminary heats to running timed finals. With all of that, we still put together a very good performance today."

A water main break at Busbey Natatorium made it neccesary to move the remaining two days of the Horizon League Championship to Akron. The decision was reached late Friday morning, and it also means that all remaining events will no longer have preliminary rounds, and will go straight to timed finals.

Katie Bellew led the way for the Vikings on Friday with a season-best time in the 100 butterfly (59.17), placing 11th overall. Bellew also added team points in the 100 breaststroke (14th, 1:09.47).

"About 80% of our swims were best times today," Morton said.

Deanna Raedel also swam a personal-best time on Friday, (1:08.95) in the 100 breaststroke, placing 13th overall.

"Deanna had a great 100 breast today," Morton said, "It was impressive to see her swim so well considering the circumstances."

The 800 free relay (Kristine Bunker, Alex Bagi, Sandra Bunker, Frances Carrion) scored the top Viking finish of the day, placing sixth overall with a time of 8:04.74.

"What epitomized our success today was the 800 free relay, finishing sixth with a great effort," Morton said, "This has our weakest event this season, but they placed the highest of all of our relays."

Also scoring points for the Vikings on Friday was Sandra Bunker, who finished 16th in the 100 backstroke (1:01.96). In doing so she improved on her previous season-best time by one and a half seconds.

"We look forward to tomorrow," Morton said, "It will be an excellent day for us."

Action resumes Saturday (Feb. 23) afternoon, with diving finals (men's 1m, women's 3m) at 12:00 noon and swimming finals at 4:00 p.m. Akron's Ocasek Natatorium in Akron, Ohio.