Nov. 29, 2011
Contact: Tim Ertle
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State men's swimming and diving team won 11 of 13 events to close out team competition for the first semester on a high note, sweeping the Cleveland Dual Meet Invitational held at the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium on Tuesday (Nov. 29).
CSU defeated Canisius College 149-87 in addition to knocking off local foes John Carroll, 175-59, and Notre Dame College, 170-45.
The Vikings are now 7-3 and won't compete again as a team until their training trip to Florida in early January.
The diving events started the day and Josh Gonzalez swept both, winning the 1-meter (296.90) and 3-meter (342.88) boards. Matt DiMasso (270.10) was the runner-up in the 3-meter event and took third (237.65) on the 1-meter board.
With his 342.88 on the 3-meter board, Gonzalez established a new career-high and posted the best score by any Horizon League diver all seson.
The foursome of Colin Hanner, Brian Ferro, Justin Kermack and Justin Hill won the first race of the day, the 200 medley relay, by turning in a 1:35.79.
Graham Thoresen (10:00.83) and Pieter Ritz (10:03.17) went one-two in the 1,000 free to stake the Vikings to a big lead early in the meet.
Nathan Grant (1:43.10) picked up his first victory of the day in the 200 free. Shawn Parkhurst of Canisius was sandwiched between Grant and Matt Falgoust (1:46.48), who placed third.
Hill and Alex Lewis earned Cleveland State another one-two finish as they were the two quickest in the 50 free. Hill came in at 20.57 and Lewis was clocked at 21.34.
Matt Moessinger of Canisius won the 400 IM in 4:12.66, but Cleveland State boasted the next four finishers. Alex Cohara (4:13.01), Jon Querciagrossa (4:16.43), Mason Allen (4:22.18) and Ryan Blankenship (4:27.66) all finished in the top-five.
Kermack earned his first individual victory of the day when he cruised in the 200 fly, touching in 1:48.37 - a time just off his school record 1:48.26 set last weekend at the TYR Invitational.
Berry Thompson (45.21) won the 100 free. Cohara was right behind him with a 48.31 and Falgoust was the third quickest at 49.37.
The only other Canisius win came in the 200 back as Steve Pochatko won it in 1:54.99. Hanner (1:59.93), Michael Dopuch (2:03.98) and Ryan Blankenship (2:05.26) were the next three to touch to minimize the Golden Griffin victory.
Thoresen won his second event of the day when he won the final individual race of the meet, the 500 free, in 4:51.64 and Grant followed with a win in the 200 breast (2:08.31).
The meet ended with the 11th Viking victory of the day as Thompson, Cohara, Brad Bielak and Falgoust won the 200 free relay in 1:26.66.
Six Viking men will compete in Atlanta at the 2011 AT&T Winter National Championships that begin on Thursday (Dec. 1) and conclude on Saturday (Dec. 3). As a team, the Vikings will head to Florida on Jan. 3 and the Vikings are scheduled to compete again on Jan. 7.
