Dec. 6, 2008
AKRON, Ohio - -
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
The Cleveland State women's swimming team completed Day Two of the three-day Zippy Invitational at Akron with eight Top-25 finishes. After two days of competition, the Vikings are 10th with 231 points.
"One of the traps we can fall into is when we swim well in a night session is to come back and have a bit of a letdown the next morning. We did a good job of making sure that didn't happen and the women had great morning swims," assistant coach Andrew Hancock said. "Katie Bellew swam two of her season best times today and Carys Behn and Emily Splain both had great swims in the 200 free. There were a lot of things to really like today."
In the 200 freestyle, Behn finished in second place (1:52.70) just off her school record pace of 1:52.52.
Emily Splain's day included Top-25 finishes in two individual events. She swam the ninth-fastest time in school history in the 200 free (1:56.52) for a 19th-place finish. In the 100 back, she took 23rd in 1:01.27.
Katie Bellew also recorded two season-bests and Top-25 finishes in the 100 breast and the 100 fly. She swam her season-best 1:09.87 in the preliminary heat of the 100 breast and came back for a 24th place finish overall in 1:10.80. In the 100 fly, her 59.44 in the prelims was her season-best and she followed that up with a 24th place finish in 1:00.84.
All three of the Viking relay teams earned Top-20 finishes led by the 11th place finish of the 800 freestyle relay team of Splain, Whitney Hickey, Kristine Bunker and Behn (7:54.63). In the 200 medley relay, CSU recorded 14th and 20th-place finishes. Splain, Bellew, Hickey and Behn swam a 1:51.42 for the 14th-place finish while Maria Culjak, Brittany McCann, Diana Mruk and Kristina Nagy touched in 1:58.05.
Several other athletes recorded their top times of the season during the day's events including Kristine Bunker in the 200 free (2:03.25), Culjak in the 100 back (1:02.04), Sandra Bunker in the 100 back (1:05.06), Brittany McCann in the 100 breast (1:13.89), Erin Green in the 100 breast (1:12.60), Kristine Bunker in the 100 fly (1:01.74), Kristine Bunker in the 400 IM (4:55.30), Hickey in the 400 IM (5:01.53) and Sandra Bunker in the 400 IM (5:05.61).
Competition at the Zippy Invitational resumes on Sunday.