March 10, 2010
Contact: Renee Adam
Complete Release in PDF Format 
REVIEWING THE LAST TIME OUT: The women's swimming and diving team competed in the Horizon League Championship (2/24-27) two weeks ago, bringing home a fifth place finish and seven CSU records in their final meet of the 2009-10 season.
WOMEN (14-5):
Cleveland State; 5th place - 368 points
Carys Behn led the Vikings with a second place finish in the 200 free (1:50.87), and CSU recorded three individual school records and four relay records. Alice Sommerville set two CSU records, finishing third in the 50 free (23.58) and fifth in the 100 fly (56.81), while Behn reclaimed her 1,000 free record, finishing fifth in 10:18.76. The highest relay finish came in the 200 free relay, with the Vikings placing third in a school record time of 1:34.87, while the 400 medley relay (3:53.61), 800 free relay (7:41.56) and the 400 free relay (3:28.36) also set CSU records at the meet.
MEN'S & WOMEN'S HEAD COACH
Wally Morton (Miami, OH, '70)
AT CSU: as men's coach: 265-142-1 (29th year), as women's coach: 26-24-0 (3rd year)
THE MORTON FILE: Wally Morton is in his 29th season as the men's swimming and diving head coach and his third with the women's team. During his tenure with the Viking men, Morton's success has been backed up by a 265-142-1 dual meet record that includes nine Penn-Ohio Championships, a pair of MCC titles and one Horizon League Championship. In his second season at the helm of the women's program, the squad recorded the most dual wins since 2005-06, with swimmers earning podium finishes in three different events at the Horizon League Championships. Morton has led five swimmers to the NCAA Championships, including 2009 All-American Jakub Dobies. He has also coached swimmers that have reached the international stage, including Nedim Nisic, who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Two more of Morton's swimmers have also gone on to be Olympic Trials finalists.
RECAPPING THE WOMEN: Following a record setting14-win season, the Viking women's swimming and diving team continued their excellence at the Horizon League Championship, setting seven school records and finishing fifth, the highest finish in the past three years. Twelve of the top times/scores this season were set at the championship, including all five relays. Freshmen Joanna Olsson, Alice Sommerville and Michelle Ferro join sophomores Carys Behn and Kacey Cummings to hold all 16 individual top times and scores of the season, with Sommerville and Olsson each setting four. Sommerville holds the top times in the 100 free (52.04), 100 breast (1:05.83) and set CSU records in the 50 free (23.58) and the 100 fly (56.81). All four of Olsson's times have also been school records, including the 500 free (4:54.39), 200 fly (2:03.35), 200 IM (2:05.31) and the 400 IM (4:22.99). Behn was the final Viking to set a school record, doing so in the 1,000 free (10:18.76) and also holds a team best in the 1,650 free (17:49.72). Ferro set top times in both backstroke events, 100 (58.90) and 200 (2:06.89) as well as the 200 breast (2:24.40). Cummings led the divers, setting team best scores in both the 1-meter (272.30) and the 3-meter (285.10). The CSU relay records came in the 200 free relay (Sommerville, Behn, Olsson, Whitney Hickey-1:34.87), 400 free relay (Behn, Sommerville, Olsson, Jamie Puls-3:28.36), 800 free relay (Olsson, Puls, Sommerville, Behn-7:41.56) and the 400 medley relay (Ferro, Sommerville, Olsson, Behn-3:53.61) which were all set during the league championship.
2009-10 HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS: Cleveland State has been honored seven times by the Horizon League this season. The following CSU athletes have earned either swimmer of the week or diver of the week honors:
Alice Sommerville - Oct. 20 (Swimmer of the Week)
Kacey Cummings - Oct. 27 (Diver of the Week)
Carys Behn - Nov. 17 (Swimmer of the Week)
Joanna Olsson - Nov. 24 (Swimmer of the Week)
Joanna Olsson - Dec. 1 (Swimmer of the Week))
Alice Sommerville - Jan. 18 (Swimmer of the Week)
Kacey Cummings - Jan. 18 (Diver of the Week)
DYNAMIC DIVING: Sophomore Kacey Cummings led the Viking divers in her first appearance at the Horizon League Championships, taking home a third place finish in the 1-meter event and an 11th place finish on the 3-meter board. Her 1-meter score of 272.30 was a personal best by more than 15 points and she set a personal best in the 3-meter earlier this season against Duquesne and Xavier, when she won the event with a score of 285.10.
...AND HAD A STELLAR SEASON: In both the 1- and 3-meter boards, Kacey Cummings has finished in first place 12 out of 16 times, sweeping the boards six times. She is the first Viking in the past five years to win both boards more than a combined 10 times.
FRESHMAN PHENOM: Joanna Olsson ended her freshman season as one of the most successful swimmers in CSU history, setting four individual school records and four relay records, recording six CSU all-time top ten times and earning Horizon League swimmer of the week honors twice. Olsson's individual records came in the 500 free (4:54.39), 200 fly (2:03.55), 200 IM (2:05.31) and the 400 IM (4:22.99), while she was part of the CSU relay records in the 200 free relay (1:34.87), 400 free relay (3:28.36), 800 free relay (7:41.56) and the 400 medley relay (3:53.61). Carys Behn, Whitney Hickey and Alice Sommerville are the only other current Vikings to have set CSU records during their freshmen seasons, with Behn being the only one to set more individual records (5) than Olsson.
SOMMERVILLE SHINES: Alice Sommerville became just the third current Viking to set CSU records as a freshman, setting top times in the 50 free (23.58) and the 100 fly (56.81). Sommerville set both records at the league championship, taking home a third place finish in the 50 free and a fifth place finish in the 100 fly.
BEHN RECLAIMS CSU RECORD: With a 10:18.76 fifth place finish in the 1,000 free at the Horizon League Championship, Carys Behn reclaimed her school record in the event, after Joanna Olsson bested her previous record at Youngstown State earlier this season. Behn first set the CSU record last season in a dual meet against Oakland, swimming a 10:23.19. She was the first Viking to break the previous record set by Kirsty McKechnie in 2005.
VIKING RELAYS FINISH STRONG: The Vikings cleaned up the record books at the Horizon League Championship, setting four out of five CSU relay records; 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, 400 medley, becomming the second team in 10 years to set four relay records in the same season. The 2003-04 squad set CSU records in the 200 free, 800 free, 200 medley and 400 medley relays, which are all still in the top five in school history.
Individual Horizon League Championship Point Totals:
Carys Behn, 47
Alice Sommerville, 43
Joanna Olsson, 41
Michelle Ferro, 26
Kacey Cummings, 22
Emily Simard, 11
Whitney Hickey, 9
Emily Splain, 8
Allison Pallija, 3
Jamie Puls, 3
Rachel Arzadon, 2
Erin Green, 2
Kelly Rath, 2
Liz Victor, 2
Courtney Maddock, 1
SCHOOL RECORD SEASON: For the first time since the women's program was created in 1972-73, the CSU squad has recorded its first ever 14-win season. During the 1982-83 season, the Vikings had a 10-2 record, the most wins up until this year. With the 14-5 record, head coach Wally Morton has led his squad to just the fourth .700 or better season, and the first in the past 23 years.
MORTON'S FIRST WOMEN'S WINNING SEASON: Head coach Wally Morton recorded his first winning season at the helm of the women's program with the 14-5 record the Vikings posted this season. In his first two seasons Morton led CSU to records of 4-10 (2007-08) and 8-9 (2008-09). With the 14 victories this season Morton is also above .500 for his career as the women's head coach, posting an overall 26-24 (.520) record. Morton leads all CSU head coaches, both men and women, with the most victories during the first three seasons in charge of the programs. Close behind is Lorry Wagner, women's coach from 1985-1991, who recorded 23 wins in the first three seasons.
