Feb. 23, 2012
Contact: Tim Ertle
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Brown Deer, Wis. - Wins from senior diver Kacey Cummings and junior swimmer Alice Sommerville coupled with team depth helped the Vikings finish day two of the Horizon League Championships in second place, just eight points behind host Milwaukee.
The Panthers lead the women's field with 295 points and CSU is right behind them with 287. Green Bay (242) and UIC (205.5) are the only other teams with more than 200 points, and Wright State is fifth with 156.5 points. Youngstown State is sixth with 145 while Valparaiso (80) and Butler (72) round out the field.
After Cummings placed third in the prelims with a score of 243.00, she surpassed both Youngstown State's Casey Hill and Wright State's Neena Zwier in the finals to win her second consecutive league title on the 1-meter board. Cummings was awarded a 270.90, ahead of Hill's 265.55 and Zwier's 255.25.
"Kacey was really consistent tonight," diving coach Rich Karban said. "The top three female divers are the best divers in the league, and it really came down to who performed best when it mattered most and Kacey finished really strong. She excelled on her last two dives and that allowed her to push past her closest competitors and win this event for the second year in a row."
Teammate Alex DiMasso placed eighth with a score of 207.35.
The other CSU win of the night came in the 50 free when Sommerville edged out Alexandra Johansson by the slightest of margins. Sommerville touched in 23.12 while Johansson was clocked at 23.13. Christine Kopacko placed eighth with a time of 23.84 to earn CSU a total of 48 team points in the event. Those times were the best of the season for all three Viking swimmers and Sommerville was just .06 seconds off her own school record.
In the events they didn't win, Cleveland State still picked up valuable points thanks to team depth.
That depth was exhibited in the first final of the night, the 500 free. Green Bay's Kendra Rottier won the event in 4:52.88 and UIC's Melanie Waszak was the runner-up with a time of 4:54.26.
Carys Behn was the first of three Vikings to crack the top eight, coming in third with a time of 4:52.62 - her best time of the season by more than seven seconds. Nikki Kolis was seventh with a 5:04.61 - topping her season-best time of 5:10.20 - and senior Emily Splain swam a career-best time of 5:04.63 to place eighth and add 11 points to the team score.
Joanna Olsson took third in the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.29 and Gretchen Hestley picked up six points with her 11th place time of 2:08.23. Megan Splain came in 13th with a career-best 2:08.56.
The Vikings closed the night with a school-record time of 3:44.70 in the 400 medley relay. That was led by Johansson who kicked things off with a school-record 55.68 split in the 100 back. She gave way to Sommerville who was followed by Olsson and Kopacko.
The previous program-best time was 3:46.77, set by Johansson, Sommerville, Olsson and Hestley last season.
Swimming trials begin tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. EST with the 400 yard IM. Other events scheduled for Friday (Feb. 24) include the 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and the 800 free 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.
