Feb. 5, 2009
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State freshman swimmers Mark deSwardt and Carys Behn have been selected as Cleveland State's Athletes of the Month for the month of January.
Director of Athletics Lee Reed made the announcement on Thursday (Feb. 5) afternoon.
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deSwardt, a native of Durban, South Africa, is earning his second Athlete of the Month honor this season. He also won the award in November. The freshman phenom provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships by winning the 1,000 free against Wright State in 9:05.64. It shattered the school record by 11 seconds on the Horizon League record by 12 seconds. He also won the 200 fly and 500 free against Wright State. deSwardt also won the 500 free and 1,000 free in duals against both Oakland and Xavier and has recorded the top times in the 200 (1:42.11), 500 (4:27.12), 1,000 (9:05.64, school record) and 1,650 (15:20.75) for CSU this season.
Behn, a freshman from Westville, South Africa, won all eight of her events that she swam in January She claimed the 1,000 freestyle in a dual against Oakland with a school-record time of 10:23.19, as well as winning the 100 free and 100 butterfly. n addition, she had three wins vs. Xavier, the 200 free, 100 fly and 500 free, and won the 500 freestyle with a school-record time of 5:04.29 against Wright State and Youngstown State, also winning the 200 and 500 free.
The Athlete of the Month was developed in 2007 to honor Viking student-athletes for their on-field accomplishments. A male and a female honoree are selected at the conclusion of each month during the school year.
CSU sponsors 17 varsity sports, of which men's and women's basketball, men's and women's swimming and diving and wrestling competed in October.
Previous 2008-09 Honorees:
September: Jake Scott (Golf) & Catrine Bjerrehus (Tennis)
October: Slavisa Ubiparipovic (Soccer) and Carys Behn (Swimming)
November: Amy Benz (Volleyball) and Marc deSwardt (Men's Swimming)
December: J'Nathan Bullock (Men's Basketball) and Kailey Klein (Women's Basketball)