Feb. 27, 2012
Contact: Tim Ertle
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Brown Deer, Wis. - The Cleveland State swimming and diving program has much to be proud of after closing the season at the 2012 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships in Brown Deer, Wis. After both the men and women placed third at the 2011 league meet, both teams jumped a spot to second this year and finished behind host Milwaukee. For the men, the 726.5 team points were the most earned by Cleveland State since the Vikings won the team title in 2006. The women's second place finish was the top mark in program history.
When it was all said and done, 16 of the 42 events were won by Vikings - eight by the men and eight more by the women. Each team won three relays and eight student-athletes won individual league titles.
The league took notice of the CSU accomplishments and added to them by naming Kacey Cummings the Women's `Diver of the Meet'. Her mentor Rich Karban was tabbed as the Women's `Diving Coach of the Year'.
Cummings received the honor after winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events - becoming only the third female diver in the last nine years to sweep both events at the league meet. Her 300.95 off the 3-meter board set a new school record - one of a dozen set by Cleveland State student-athletes in the past week.
Karban's honor marked the sixth time in his career that he has received `Coach of the Year' accolades. This year was the eighth time in the last nine seasons under Karban that a Viking earned `Diver of the Meet' honors.
Aside from Cummings, another Karban protégé in senior diver Josh Gonzalez has qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships.
Many other Vikings were on the verge of qualifying for the national championships and obtained `B' cut times that will earn them a spot in the national meet if not enough `A' cut times are achieved.
Four different relays had `B' cut times, among them the men's (1:20.53) and women's (1:31.18) 200 free relay teams. Justin Hill, Alex Lewis, Berry Thompson and Al Shillito won the event at the Horizon League Championships, as did the school record setting female foursome of Alice Sommerville, Carys Behn, Christine Kopacko and Alexandra Johansson.
That same quartet set a school record and had a `B' cut time in the 200 medley relay when they finished in 1:41.68. Finally, the 400 free relay quartet of Behn, Sommerville, Joanna Olsson and Johansson covered the distance in 3:22.32 - putting themselves in a position to potentially go to nationals. That broke the old school record of 3:23.89 which was set last year by the same four swimmers in the same order.
Individually, Justin Kermack and Berry Thompson each racked up a pair of `B' cut times. Kermack met the `B' standards in both the 400 IM (3:54.53) and the 200 fly (1:47.30). Kermack's 200 fly time also broke his own school record which he set earlier this season. Thompson placed second in the 50 free with a 20.24, a time still good enough to slide under the `B' cut standard. He also qualified with his school record time of 43.33 in the 100 free.
Lewis and Sommerville were the other two individuals to turn in `B' cut performances. Lewis had his in the 100 fly (48.28) and Sommerville accomplished her feat in the 100 breast (1:02.62).
The CSU quartet of Hill, Thompson, Grant and Lewis, a group that had a `B' cut time in the 200 free relay, missed the qualifying mark in the 400 free relay but still came in with a school record time of 2:58.42. The previous record was 3:00.45 which was set in 2009.
The Viking women set two other school relay records, starting with a 3:44.70 in the 400 medley relay. That was led by Johansson who kicked things off with a school record 55.68 split in the 100 back. She gave way to Sommerville who was followed by Olsson and Kopacko. The previous program-best time was 3:46.77, set by Johansson, Sommerville, Olsson and Gretchen Hestley last season.
The quartet of Olsson, Emily Splain, Behn and Kopacko set a new school, championship and league record time of 7:26.29 in the 800 free relay. Cleveland State set the record of 7:27.75 at the league meet last year.
Other records came from Nikki Kolis who led the distance group with a school record time of 17:19.10 in the 1,650 free - the first mile race of her life. Freshman Hayley Smith took eighth in the 200 back, touching in a career-best 2:04.56. In the prelims, she swam a 2:03.41 which broke a school record set by Samantha Jones in 2005.
