Feb. 22, 2012
Contact: Tim Ertle
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Brown Deer, Wis. - The Cleveland State women's swimming and diving team set the bar high on Wednesday (Feb. 22) night, turning in a record-setting performance in the first race of the four-day Horizon League Championships in Brown Deer, Wis.
The Viking women picked up 40 points right off the bat when the quartet of Alice Sommerville, Carys Behn, Christine Kopacko and Alexandra Johansson won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:31.18 - besting the previous league record of 1:31.63 that Cleveland State recorded at the 2011 league meet. Sommerville, Behn and Johansson joined Gretchen Hestley on the victorious 200 free relay team a season ago.
Only three swimmers in the entire event swam a sub-:23 split: Sommerville (22.98), Behn (22.74) and Johansson (22.34).
"That was some of the best swimming in the history of the school," head coach Wally Morton said. "Our swimmers just came out on fire. It's something to build on and we still have a lot more swimming left to go so we'll pace ourselves - but that was extremely encouraging."
After the CSU team victory, Nikki Kolis turned in a brilliant performance in the 1,000 free to place third and earn 16 team points.
"Nikki has been working hard and that was great to see her swim as well as she did," Morton said.
Kolis, who swam a season-best time of 10:36.17 in the final meet of the season against UIC, was clocked at 10.21.20. Green Bay's Kendra Rottier won the event in 10:03.79 and UIC's Melanie Waszak was the runner-up with a 10:06.51.
CSU's Amanda Pallija placed ninth with a 10:32.64 - shaving almost 27 seconds off her season-best time. Ashley Rossi touched in 10:40.46 - her best time of the season - to add three points to the team total.
The next two swimmers to touch immediately after Kolis were Karmyn VandeWettering (10:23.68) and Brittany Walsh (10:23.89) - both of Milwaukee. The Panthers depth gave them a 69-68 lead over CSU after the first two events.
In the third and final women's event - the 200 medley relay - Johansson, Sommerville, Behn and Kopacko covered the distance in a school-record 1:41.68. That time was second as Milwaukee set a new league and championship record with a time of 1:40.64.
At the end of the first day, the Vikings have 102 points and trail only Milwaukee who finished with 109. Green Bay was third with 90 points, one spot ahead of UIC who had 83. Wright State was fifth with 83 points and Youngstown State (61), Valparaiso (51) and Butler (48) rounded out the group.
Swimming trials begin tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. EST with the 500 yard free. Other events scheduled for Thursday (Feb. 23) include the 200 IM, 50 free, 1-meter diving event and the 400 medley relay.
Video of the finals - which are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. EST - can be streamed live each day on the Horizon League Network via www.HorizonLeague.org.
