Dec. 5, 2008
AKRON, Ohio - -
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
The Cleveland State women's swimming team opened the three-day Zippy Invitational at Akron with five Top-25 finishes in five events. With one day of competition complete, the Vikings are 10th of 13 teams with 110 points.
"We have a good mix of experience and youth," assistant coach Andrew Hancock said. "Our experienced swimmers are leading the way and our young swimmers are working on their processes. At this meet we're looking to perfect our races and if we can do that we should swim fast now and even faster at the end of the year. We're going to concentrate on doing things the way we've practiced them. They're learning how to swim these long marathon meets and that will really get them ready for the end of the year. We're swimming fast but we know we can still swim faster."
Carys Behn posted the team's best finish in the 500 free, winning the consolation heat. Behn's time of 5:05.13 earned her a ninth-place finish.
CSU had two teams in each of the relay events. In the 200 free relay, Behn, Emily Splain, Kristine Bunker and Whitney Hickey paired up for a 10th-place finish (1:38.23) with the second-fastest time in CSU history. The team of Maria Culjak, Kristina Nagy, Diana Mruk and Sandra Bunker finished 22nd (1:44.39).
Both of the Vikings' teams finished in the Top 20 in the 400 medley relay. Culjak, Katie Bellew, Splain and Behn finished 15th overall (4:04.00) while the team of Hickey, Erin Green, K. Bunker and Nagy took 19th (4:10.70). As the leadoff of the relay, Whitney Hickey recorded a season-best 1:01.83 in the 100 back.
Several swimmers recorded their season-best times during the preliminary heats including Hickey in the 50 free (25.50), Mruk in the 50 free (26.48) and Brittany McCann in the 200 IM (2:24.70).
Competition at the Zippy Invitational resumes on Saturday.
