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CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming & diving teams will continue postseason action this week by competing in a pair of events.
Cleveland State is hosting the National Invitational Championship at its Robert F. Busbey Natatorium. The meet will take place Thursday, March 12, through Saturday, March 14. Prelim sessions will begin at 9:30 a.m. each day with finals sessions starting at 6:00 p.m. each day.
Live results will be available through the Meet Mobile app ($) and will also be available through SwimCloud. The CSCAA has arranged for a live video broadcast via YouTube (links forthcoming).
For the meet schedule and more meet details, fans are encouraged to visit the Championship central homepage.
The NIC was created because a growing number of student-athletes have been denied an opportunity to participate in a national-level championship. All Division I conference champions, both relay and individual, automatically qualified for the NIC while student-athletes were also able to qualify by meeting predetermined time standards.
Along with holding all traditional individual swimming events and relays, the NIC will also contest 50-yard events for backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, the 100 individual medley and the 1000 freestyle. As a result, the NIC will crown champions in more events than any other collegiate championship.
This is the fifth time the NIC has been held, and it is shaping up to be the largest Division I meet on the collegiate swimming calendar for the second straight year. Fifty six different schools have entered the event. There are expected to be 53 women's programs and 32 men's programs competing at the event. A total of 645 distinct student-athletes are expected to jump into the water in Cleveland during the meet.
Cleveland State will have 12 male swimmers in the NIC, the maximum amount permitted per meet rules. The three Viking men who won individual conference titles—Timothy Kubacki, Dominik Niedzialek and Dominic Poletta—will all look to add to their trophy collections before the season concludes.
Poletta, who won the 50 free and 100 butterfly at the HL meet, is entered into both the 50 free and the 50 fly for the NIC. Kubacki is entered into the 200 IM, which he won at the HL meet, along with the 200 free and 500 free. Niedzialek is entered into the 100 back, which he won at the HL meet, the 200 back and the 50 back.
After having just one female compete in the NIC last season, there are nine Viking women entered into the meet this year.
Sophomore Agnes Bahr, who tied for the team lead in individual points earned at the HL Championships, is entered into the 200 IM, the 400 IM and the 200 backstroke for the NIC. She was the runner-up in the 400 IM at the HL meet. Junior Alana Cartwright, who scored in the NIC last season, is entered into both the 50 and 100 breaststroke for CSU.
While the NIC is going on at home, Cleveland State will also have a diver on the road looking to further his season. Junior Matt Akers will compete at the NCAA Zone C Championships this week.
The NCAA Zone C meet opens Thursday, March 12, on the 3-meter board and continues Friday, March 13, on the 1-meter board. The event is taking place at Kentucky's Lancaster Aquatic Center. Diving will begin at 1:00 p.m. both days and live results will be available by clicking here.
There are five zone meets spread across the country that allow divers to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Based on performances at the previous NCAA Championship meets, each zone earns a set number of qualifying spots. The men's divers at the Zone C meet are chasing after one of seven spots in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.
The events will consist of a preliminary round of six dives with the top 18 finishers advancing to the final round. Divers will perform six more dives in the final round, with scores on all dives in the prelims and finals used to determine placing.
There are 33 entries in the men's 3-meter and 32 in the 1-meter event. Twenty seven of the 3-meter entrants hail from Power Five conferences, with 20 divers representing a Big Ten school.
Akers has competed at the Zone Championships each of the past two seasons, including qualifying for the 1-meter final at last year's event.
Akers has surpassed the Zones standard seven times this season in the 1-meter event and five times in the 3-meter discipline. He posted career highs in both the 1-meter (353.85) and 3-meter (388.20) at the Magnus Cup this past November.
The dives that Akers is scheduled to complete can be viewed at these links: 1-meter and 3-meter.
