March 1, 2009
BROWN DEER, Wis. - -
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
The Cleveland State University women wrapped up the 2009 Horizon League Championships with a sixth-place finish (290 points) and saw freshman Carys Behn set three new school records during the four-day event. In the final day, CSU swimmers set two school records and added ninth new times to CSU's all-time Top-10 list.
Green Bay won the event (859) followed by Milwaukee (737), Wright State (564), UIC (546) and Youngstown State (300). Valparaiso (214) and Butler (134) rounded out the scoring. For the Vikings, their 290 points were the most since the 2006 championships.
"I thought he had a pretty good preliminary session today and performed well in the finals," head coach Wally Morton said. "Overall, we set a number of school records and moved up in the rankings, just missing fifth-place by 10 points. This was also the most athletes we've advanced to the finals in many years, so we're showing the improvement we expected to see. I thought overall we had a great meet, especially from our seniors, and with Carys Behn and Whitney Hickey we've got some great pieces to build around in the future."
During the four-day event, Cleveland State swimmers set nine new records including Behn's new marks in the 50 free (23.66), 100 free (51.26), 200 free (1:50.22) and 500 free (4:55.35) and Hickey's 100 fly (57.03). Four relay marks were set as well, including the 200 free relay (1:35.34) of Behn, Maria Culjak, Hickey and Kristine Bunker; the 400 free relay (3:32.48) of Hickey, Behn, Kristine Bunker and Kristina Nagy; the 200 medley relay (1:47.86) of Culjak, Rachel Arzadon, Emily Splain and Hickey; and the 400 medley relay (3:56.14) of Culjak, Arzadon, Katie Bellew and Behn.
The night started with the mile race and Frances Carrion, CSU's lone swimmer, finished 20th in 18:47.62.
In the 200 back, two of the Vikings' three swimmers had times that put them into CSU's all-time Top-10 list. Culjak finished eighth for the Vikings in a time of 2:09.33 after swimming the fourth-fastest time in school history during her preliminary heat (2:06.29). Behind Culjak, Splain finished 15th in 2:12.08 after swimming the ninth-fastest time in school history during the preliminaries (2:11.29). In the Vikings' other preliminary swim, Sandra Bunker finished in 19th with a time of 2:16.00.
Behn set her third school record of the Horizon League Championships during her second-place finish in the 100 free. Behn swam a 51.26, bettering the CSU record of 52.22 set by Marianne Lionell in 2005. During preliminary heats, Kristina Nagy finished 15th (54.22) in her fastest time of the season while Brittany Tweardy was 23rd (56.18). Diana Mruk also swam her fastest time of the season, 57.04, to finish 26th.
"Carys had a great meet," Morton said. "She was just missed winning several events and we're going to continue to work with her. She will get better and better."
Three of the four swimmers in the 200 breast added their times to CSU's all-time top 10 including Katie Bellew, Erin Green and Rachel Arzadon. Bellew finished 14th in 2:27.95 after swimming the third-fastest time in school history during her preliminary race (2:26.93). Green was just behind her in 16th place with a time of 2:28.64 after swimming a 2:26.97 preliminary heat for CSU's fourth-fastest time in school history. During other preliminary heats, Arzadon swam the eighth-fastest time in school history to finish 18th (2:28.31) while Brittany McCann finished 23rd in a time of 2:35.13.
In the 200 fly, Hickey recorded CSU's top finish with a time of 2:09.83 to place eighth, and proved to be one of CSU's top swimmers of the meet. Her preliminary time of 2:09.33 as the fifth-fastest time in school history. Just behind Hickey, Kristine Bunker swam the seventh-fastest time in school history to finish 12th (2:10.61).
The women wrapped up the meet with a school record in the 400 free relay. Hickey swam her fastest 100 free time of the season in the leadoff leg (53.79) followed by Behn (51.48), Kristine Bunker (54.16) and Nagy (53.05).
