Feb. 26, 2009
BROWN DEER, Wis. - -
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
The Cleveland State University women continued to show improvement during the second day of the 2009 Horizon League Championships. All seven individual swimmers notched their top times of the season and Carys Behn improved on her own school record in the 500 free. After Day Two of the four-day event, the Vikings are in seventh place with 109 points.
"We had a solid day and we're looking forward to tomorrow," head coach Wally Morton said. "All of our women swam a lifetime best today and that is very encouraging. They are improving all the time."
The Vikings opened Day Two with the 500 free as Carys Behn bettered her own school record for a third-place finish. Behn's time of 4:55.35 broke the mark of 5:04.29 she set on Jan. 24. During the preliminary rounds, Frances Carrion swam her season-best 5:20.26 to finish in 25th place.
CSU did not qualify a swimmer for the finals of the 200 IM, but both of its swimmers posted their best times of the season during the preliminaries. Rachel Arzadon finished in 2:18.20 (20th) and Brittany McCann touched in 2:21.50 (24th).
The Vikings' top finisher in the 50 free was Kristina Nagy in 14th place. Nagy nearly broke into the top 10 swims in school history, missing the 10th spot by .01 seconds with a time of 24.49. Brittany Tweardy finished 16th with her fastest time of the season (24.71). During preliminary heats, Maria Culjak (25.06, 21st) and Diana Mruk (25.94, 29th) also swam their fastest times of the season.
The women swam an impressive 3:56.14 in the 400 medley relay, setting a new school record with a fifth-place finish with the swims of Maria Culjak, Arzadon, Katie Bellew and Behn. In the leadoff leg, Culjak swam the fifth-fastest 100 fly time in school history (59.40). The old relay record of 3:57.01 was set in 2005.
The Horizon League Championships continue Friday and Saturday. Friday's events include the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 800 free relay and women's 1-meter diving. 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 (www.horizonleague.org).
