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Swimming And Diving Travels To The TYR Northwestern University Invitational

Swimming And Diving Travels To The TYR Northwestern University Invitational
Posted: Nov 18, 2009

Nov. 18, 2009

Contact: Renee Adam

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SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State men's and women's swimming and diving teams will travel to Evanston, Illinois to take part in the TYR Northwestern University Invitational, the Vikings' first invitational of the season. The meet will take place from Friday (Nov. 20) to Sunday (Nov. 22).

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The men's and women's squads hosted two quad meets this past week, facing Gannon, John Carroll and Notre Dame (OH) in the City College Meet on Tuesday (Nov. 10), while Niagara, St. Bonaventure and Valparaiso came to town on Saturday (Nov. 14).

MEN (10-1):
Mark deSwardt led the Vikings last week winning five individual events and swimming his best times of the season in the 500 and 1,000 free. Teammates Deni Gasparin and Josh Gonzalez each posted three victories in both swimming and diving events en route to a CSU sweep of all six teams that they competed against last week. The Viking relay teams made a strong showing going four-for-four in the 200 and 400 medley and the 200 and 400 free relays.

WOMEN (9-2):
Once again the CSU squad was led by Joanna Olsson and Carys Behn who each recorded five victories last week. Olsson set a program record in the 200 fly, besting her previous record that she set. Alice Sommerville added four first place finishes for the Vikings as they cruised past the competition in both quad meets. The women's relays are starting to make an impact as they won two out of the four relay races with the 400 free relay cementing the historical victory over St. Bonaventure.

MEN'S & WOMEN'S HEAD COACH
Wally Morton (Miami, OH, '70)
AT CSU: as men's coach: 251-138-1 (28 years), as women's coach: 12-19-0 (2 years)

THE MORTON FILE: Wally Morton enters 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 251-138-1 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.

PREVIEWING THE WOMEN: Head coach Wally Morton and his staff have brought in an outstanding group of talented newcomers to join the returners from last year's squad that finished sixth at the Horizon League Championships, one of the best finishes in school history. The returning squad is comprised of one senior, three juniors and six sophomores, including the holders of all six school records that were set during 2009. The freshmen are making an impact on the CSU record books as three of the newcomers, Joanna Olsson, Alice Sommerville and Michelle Ferro, have recorded 13 all-time top-10 times this season. Sommerville has the team's top times in the 50 free (23.89), 100 free (52.04) and the 100 fly (57.75), while Olsson holds the top time in the 1,000 free (10:19.16), the 200 IM (2:07.97), the 400 IM (4:27.68) and also the 200 fly (2:04.57), setting CSU records in the 1,000 free and 200 fly. Five-time individual school record holder, sophomore Carys Behn, has the team's best times in the 200 (1:53.05) and 500 free (5:01.63). Ferro leads the team in backstroke and breaststroke events, having top times in the 100 (59.33) and the 200 backstroke (2:07.95), and the 100 (1:07.71) and 200 breast (2:28.10). Kacey Cummings paces the divers with 250.65 and 271.27 points in the 1-and 3-meter boards respectively.

PREVIEWING THE MEN: After a season in which the CSU men's swimming and diving team earned their first All-American, placed first in eight events at the Horizon League Championships and captured Swimmer of the Meet, Athlete of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, the Vikings are prepared to expand on their success with the addition of nine talented newcomers. The newcomers join three seniors, three juniors and six sophomores to complete the 2009-10 squad. 2009 All-American Jakub Dobies continues to improve on his top times in the 100 breast (57.06) and the 200 breast (2:05.88) by setting new times at Notre Dame. Sophomore Mark deSwardt returns after earning all three league honors for the Vikings last season; Swimmer of the Meet, Athlete of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, swimming top times in the 1,000 free (9:27.25), 500 free (4:36.33), 200 fly (1:52.78) and the 400 IM (4:01.05). Senior Todd Winchell has made a strong impact this season, setting top times in the 200 free (1:43.89), 100 back (52.05) and the 100 fly (50.87). Juniors Zvonimir Androic and Deni Gasparin round out the veterans that hold this seasons top times, with a team best 1:54.41 in the 200 back for Androic and a 1:54.56 in the 200 IM for Gasparin. Berry Thompson is the lone Viking newcomer to post a swimming top time this season, holding a 20.89 in the 50 free and a 47.12 in the 100 free. Josh Gonzalez has recorded the best scores for the divers in both the 1- and 3-meter diving events with 262.72 and 306.70 points respectively.

RECORD SETTER, PART IV: Freshman Joanna Olsson has set two different CSU records this season, breaking the 200 fly record for the third time this past weekend. Olsson bested her previous time in the 200 fly by one second, touching in a time of 2:04.57. Before the 2009-10 season, Heather Henshaw held the record since 1998 with a time of 2:06.94. Olsson now holds school records in the 1,000 free and 200 fly, and is knocking on the door in both the 200 and 400 IM.

FRESHMAN PHENOM: Freshman Berry Thompson has won the 50 free in three meets this season, the first freshman to accomplish the feat in the past four years. Stephen Grove is the only other Viking on the roster to have won the race more times, ending last year with five victories and placing first four times during the 2007-08 season.

BEATING THE BONNIES: For the first time in at least four seasons, the CSU women's team beat St. Bonaventure and rather convincingly at that. The Vikings had 146 total points against the Bonnies last weekend, only 44 points less than the past three year's point totals combined. Last Saturday CSU posted 11 victories, eight more then they tallied last season at St. Bonaventure. The 400 free relay and Kacey Cummings in the 1- and 3-meter boards repeated as first place finishers, being the lone Vikings to win events from 2006-2008.

deSWARDT CONTINUES STREAK: Sophomore Mark deSwardt continued his streak of winning at least two individual events to 13 straight meets when he won the 500 free and 400 IM in the City College Meet (11/10) and the 1,000 free, 200 fly and the 500 free in the quad meet last Saturday (11/14). The streak dates back to November 11, 2008 when he won the 1,000 free and the 200 IM at the City College Championships. deSwardt has also won the 1,000 free in 11 consecutive meets that he has swam the event in and 14 out of the 15 times that he has swam the race as a Viking.

STARTING STRONG: Both the men's and women's squads are off to their best starts in the past four seasons, the women going 9-2 (.818) in dual meets and the men posting a 10-1 (.909) dual record. The women have already recorded more victories this season than the past three with seven duals remaining, while the men are only one win shy of tying their season best of 11 victories set in both 2006-07 and 2007-08.

CLIMBING THE RANKS: CSU is making an impact on the College Swimming Mid-Major poll as the men sit at the number seven spot with 214.0 points, while the women are ranked 24th with 210.6 points in the first poll of the season. The only other Horizon League school in the ranks is Milwaukee, with the men's team coming in at No. 14 while the women are sitting in the 19th spot. The poll is released monthly with the next one being released on Dec. 23.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: The CSU swimming and diving programs swept the league weekly swimming honors, as Carys Behn and Mark deSwardt were each named swimmer of the week for Nov. 9-15. Behn and deSwardt each posted five individual victories during the two quad meets last week. They both dominated the freestyle events with deSwardt winning the 500 free twice and the 1,000 free while Behn touched first in the 1,000, 500, 200, 100 and 50 free. It marks the sixth time that deSwardt has earned the award, while Behn was honored for the second time while she has been a Viking.

2009-10 HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS: Cleveland State has been honored four 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)
Jakub Dobies - Nov. 4 (Swimmer of the week)
Josh Gonzalez - Nov. 4 (Diver of the week)
Carys Behn - Nov. 17 (Swimmer of the Week)
Mark deSwardt - Nov. 17 (Swimmer of the Week)

NEXT UP: The men's and women's teams will travel to Columbus, Ohio to face Big Ten opponent Ohio State on Tuesday (Nov. 24) at 5:00 p.m.