Feb. 25, 2011
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Contact: Dan Carr
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State women's swimming and diving team had one of the best single day conference championship performances in program history on Friday (Feb. 25), winning five events and breaking three Horizon League records.
"It was, without a doubt, from a championship standpoint, the greatest day in the women's swimming and diving program's history," head coach Wally Morton said.
For the third time in three days, the Vikings kicked off the day's finals with a first place finish. This time it was Joanna Olsson, breaking her own Horizon League record in the 400 IM by winning in 4:19.76. She bettered her previous best time of 4:20.09, set last November.
The second league record to fall by a Viking was the mark of 1:49.91 in the 200 freestyle, set by Wright State's Molley Pipkorn in the 2009 Horizon League Championships. Carys Behn was the winning swimmer this time around, setting Horizon League, Cleveland State and Busbey Natatorium records with a 1:48.05 first place finish.
The time also qualifies Behn for an NCAA Division I 'B' cut. If not enough Division I swimmers qualify with 'A" cuts, Behn would have a chance to represent CSU at this year's national championships.
Two other Vikings scored points for CSU with all-time best marks in the 200 freestyle, both in the consolation finals. Gretchen Hestley won the consolations with a 1:52.78 finish, good for ninth overall. The time is also the third best ever in program history. Christine Kopacko took 14th, finishing in 1:54.36. Her qualifying time of 1:54.20 ranks as the fifth best in school history.
The final Horizon League record broken by the Vikings came in the 800 freestyle relay. The team of Olsson, Behn, Kopacko and Hestley won the event in 7:27.75, beating the previous best time of 7:28.85, set by Green Bay in the 2009 conference championships.
Two other school records fell on Friday. Alexandra Johansson won the 100 backstroke in 56.16, nearly a full second faster than Samantha Jones' 57.03 time in 2005. Alice Sommerville broke her own CSU mark in the 100 butterfly preliminaries, beating her old time of 55.75 with a qualifying time of 55.02. Sommerville went on to finish second in the finals of the 100 fly in a very exciting race, touching out just behind Milwaukee's Diana Diel, who won in 55.14.
"What's great about our women's team is that they reflect their work ethic," Morton said. "Not just their work ethic in the pool but their work ethic out of the pool. They just have a very disciplined and professional approach to what they're doing, and that's translated into success in the swimming pool."
Four Vikings also qualified for the consolation finals in the 100 breast, the day's other swimming event, rewriting the school's top ten list in the process. Emily Simard led the team by winning the consolation finals in 1:05.36, the third best in CSU history in that event. Michelle Ferro's qualifying time of 1:05.80 is the fourth best time in school history while Allison Pallija's qualifying mark of 1:05.95 stands as the fifth best ever.
In the consolations, Pallija placed 11th in 1:06.30, Rachel Arzadon took 12th at 1:06.38 (sixth best in CSU history) and Ferro came in 13th with a time of 1:06.51.
While the Vikings dominated in most of the swimming events, the divers had one of their best days as a group of the season. Kacey Cummings led the pack with a come-from-behind win in the 1-meter dive. Trailing the entire event, Cummings scored enough points in her final dive to win the event with a score of 263.75.
"Kacey was very impressive with a great last dive to win that diving event," Morton said.
Kathleen Chandler also qualified for the diving finals, taking fifth in the preliminaries (229.55 points). She went on to finish eighth in the finals, scoring 219.30.
Alexandra DiMasso won the consolation finals of the 1-meter diving. She scored 225.90 to finish in ninth overall. The Vikings' fourth diver, Liz Victor, also had a great day, turning in her best-ever performance. Participating as an exhibition diver, Victor score 217.65, a score that would have ranked as the 11th best in the preliminaries.
"The diving team did a very good job," diving coach Rich Karban said. "I told them to just have some fun today, to relax and to be aggressive in their takeoffs, and they all did a great job."
The Vikings finished the third day of the Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships in third place with a team score of 471.5. CSU trails second place Milwaukee (488) by 16.5 points. Green Bay leads the pack with 566.5 points.
The 2011 Horizon League Championships will conclude on Saturday (Feb. 26). The swimming preliminaries will begin at 10:00 a.m. with the diving preliminaries starting at 1:30 p.m. The finals for all of the day's events are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. following a brief ceremony recognizing the conference's seniors.
