Feb. 25, 2009
BROWN DEER, Wis. - -
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
The Cleveland State University women kicked off the 2009 Horizon League Championships with two school records in the opening event and showed a marked improvement from a year ago. After day one of the four-day event, the Vikings are in sixth place with 61 points.
"Our women had a great night," head coach Wally Morton said. "They swam very well and had the best first-day performance they've had in years."
In the first event of the meet, Carys Behn, Maria Culjak, Whitney Hickey and Kristine Bunker swam a new school record of 1:35.34 for a fourth-place finish. The time bettered the 2006 record of 1:36.95. Behn swam the leadoff leg in school record time (23.66) followed by Culjak's 24.14, Hickey's 23.72 and Bunker anchored the relay with a leg of 23.82. Behn's record knocked off that of Marianne Lionell, who swam a 23.86 in 2004.
CSU picked up two Top-25 finishes in the night's second event. During the 1,000 free, Erin Green finished 17th with a time of 10:43.45 and logged her best time of the season. Frances Carrion finished 23rd with a time of 11:04.76.
A group of freshmen paired up for the 200 medley relay and recorded another school record for the Vikings. Maria Culjak, Rachel Arzadon, Emily Splain and Whitney Hickey swam a 1:47.86, good for sixth-place, and a new CSU school record. The old mark of 1:48.08 was set in 2005.
In the 3-meter diving competition, Liz Victor finished 12th with a score of 160.50.
"I think we're off to a good start but we have to build on those results," Morton said. "I was excited by everyone's swims but we've got three full days of swimming left. It's just the beginning but it's an exciting start with some very exciting accomplishments."
The Horizon League Championships continue Thursday through Saturday. Thursday's events include the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 400 medley relay and men's 1-meter diving events. Preliminary swimming heats begin at 10:30 a.m. with preliminary diving starting at 1:30 p.m. Final events begin at 6:30 p.m. Central time. On-demand videos of the final heats as well as live blogs are available off the Horizon League website ( HYPERLINK "http://www.horizonleague.org" www.horizonleague.org).